As robots become increasingly popular and co-inhabit spaces with people, there is a need for designing robots that people are comfortable interacting with. For robots to successfully integrate into human society, it is important to design robots in a way that enhances the quality of the human-robot interaction. While the human-robot relationship typically exists to serve people, there will be instances when robots require human assistance. This project aims to investigate people’s interactions with robots that need their assistance. It employs a robot designed to test people’s willingness to help it achieve a goal under various scenarios.
The project in its entirety was quite an ambitious one given the limited scope of a graduation project. A literature review carried at the beginning helped identify key features a robot and an interaction should have, in order for it to be perceived positively by humans interacting with it. This review culminated in a list of design considerations which informed the design and the interaction. These design considerations were referred to throughout the project, while choosing ideas for the interaction and while detailing the chosen scenario. A state machine was used to explain the general behavioural states of the robot, and the electronic components that facilitated the desired interaction were chosen. These components were coded to reflect the desired behaviour of the robot during the interaction. Alongside this process, the robot was embodied as sub-assemblies incorporating these components. Once the robot was given a form, the components were designed to fit within a modular body that accounted for zoomorphic and anthropomorphic features, while retaining functionality of the components inside. During its embodiment, the robot was given the ability to express itself through displayed speech, sounds, facial expressions and body language. Additional structures like "nests" were also designed to support the robot's interaction. Once the interaction was designed and embodied, the robot was then plot tested, before being used as a research probe to conduct human-robot interaction (HRI) experiments to address the research questions outlined at the start of the project. Data was gathered through data logging via the robot, user observations and interviews. The results of the experiments indicate that people's willingness to help a robot is influenced by the narrative of a human-robot interaction, the effort level of the task required to help the robot, as well as individuals' attitudes towards robots. Increasing the effort level reduced people's willingness to help the robot, but only when the narrative of the interaction was simple and functional, demonstrating that a narrative which tries to engage emotionally with participants has a positive effect on their altruistic response. The experiments were also able to shed some light on the social dynamics that emerge when a robot co-inhabits a space with people, as more people informed others about the robot.