The Effect of Robot Pose and Distance on Pedestrian and Observer Comfort During Passing*

To facilitate the integration of autonomous mobile robots into environments shared with humans, ensuring the comfort of pedestrians and observers (individuals observing the interaction from a third-party perspective) is crucial. This study explores the correlation between pedestrian and observer comfort and the robot’s distance and pose angle during pedestrian encounters. The findings indicate that when a robot passes a pedestrian after completing its avoidance motion, it enhances the comfort of both pedestrians and observers. In addition, when a robot maintains a large distance from pedestrians while passing by, it improves pedestrian comfort. Furthermore, designing the robot’s pose during passing so that it appears to move away from the pedestrian from the observer’s perspective further increases the observer’s comfort.