Human-Robot Interaction

research digest P ersonal service robots are predicted to be the next big thing in technology (e.g., Jones & Schmidlin, 2011). The term personal service robot refers to a type of robot that will assist people in myriad household activities, such as caring for the elderly, gardening, or even assisting children with their homework. Jones and Schmidlin (2011) examined the factors that need to be taken into consideration in the design of personal service robots. For example, a personal service robot must be able to do the following: Understand users' intentions and infer the ability of users to accomplish tasks (e.g., does a senior citizen want to get medicine from the cupboard, and, if so, can the senior citizen get the medicine without any help?). Determine the appropriate time to interrupt users (e.g., stopping a person on her way to work to inform her that a trivial task is complete may not be an appropriate time to intercede). Approach users in the appropriate direction (e. g., approaching from front or rear vs. left or right). This is based on the user group (e.g., women vs. men) and the circumstance (e.g., user is sitting vs. user is standing). Position itself at an appropriate distance from users. This distance is dependent on the users' attitudes toward robots. Capture users' attention by identifying receptive users, positioning itself appropriately, and speaking to users. The physical appearance of a robot is anoth er important element that designers need to take into account. Appearance plays a signifi cant role in the capabilities that users perceive a robot to possess. For example, Lee, Lau, and Hong (2011) found that users expected more emotion and communication (e.g., speech) capabilities from human-like robots compared with machine-like robots. Further, the appearance of a robot infl uenced the environment in which it is likely to be used. Specifi cally, human-like robots (which are expected to have more warmth) were preferred for social and service occupations that required interaction with humans compared with task-oriented occupations. Like personal service robots, professional robots are becoming increasingly popular. These robots assist people with professional tasks in nonindustrial environments. For example, professional robots are used in urban search-and-rescue missions, with operators remotely in control. Designing robots for use in such complex environments brings a unique set of challenges. For example, Jones, Johnson, and Schmidlin (2011) found that one of the problems …