Robots in the wild: observing human-robot social interaction outside the lab

This paper discusses the use of observational studies of human-robot social interaction in open human-inhabited environments as a method for improving on the design and evaluating the interactive capabilities of social robots. First, we discuss issues that have surfaced in attempts to evaluate social interactions between humans and robots. Next, we review two observational studies involving robots interacting socially with humans and discuss how the results can be applied to improving robot design. The first is an analysis of a mobile conference-attending robot that performed a search task by augmenting its perception through social interaction with human attendees. The second is an analysis of a stationary robotic receptionist that provides information to visitors and enhances interaction through story-telling. Through these examples, we show how observational studies can be applied to human-robot social interactions in varying contexts and with differing tasks to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate (and discover unanticipated aspects of) the social interaction. Finally, we discuss design recommendations suggested by insights gained through these analyses