The Effects of Natural Sounds and Proxemic Distances on the Perception of a Noisy Domestic Flying Robot

in ACM Transactions on Human - Robot Interaction (in press)

When flying robots are used in close-range interaction with humans, the noise they generate, also called consequential sound, is a critical parameter for user acceptance. We conjecture that there is a ... [more ▼]

When flying robots are used in close-range interaction with humans, the noise they generate, also called consequential sound, is a critical parameter for user acceptance. We conjecture that there is a benefit in adding natural sounds to noisy domestic drones. To test our hypothesis experimentally, we carried out a mixed-methods research study (N=56) on reported user perception of a sonified domestic flying robot with three sound conditions at three distances. The natural sounds studied were respectively added to the robot’s inherent noises during flying; namely a birdsong and a rain sound, plus a control condition of no added sound. The distances studied were set according to proxemics; namely near, middle, and far. Our results show that adding birdsong or rain sound affects the participants’ perceptions, and the proxemic distances play a nonnegligible role. For instance, we found that participants liked the bird condition the most when the drone was at far, while they disliked the same sound the most when at near. We also found that participants’ perceptions strongly depended on their associations and interpretations deriving from previous experience. We derived six concrete design recommendations. [less ▲]

The Ambivalence towards Natural Characteristics in the Interactions with Small Indoor Flying Robots

Presentation (2023, May 12)

Nature and humanity have been in constant and varied interactions throughout history and technological epochs. I conjecture that there are benefits to integrating natural characteristics into robot ... [more ▼]

Nature and humanity have been in constant and varied interactions throughout history and technological epochs. I conjecture that there are benefits to integrating natural characteristics into robot designs for their interactions with humans. I test this conjecture experimentally with a focus on close-range interactions with flying robots, using Research through Design (RtD) and mixed-methods approaches. In my half-PhD seminar, I will discuss the two studies I have carried out, namely: 1) overlaying natural sounds, i.e. birdsong and rain sound, on a noisy flying robot at three proxemic distances (N=56), accepted by ACM THRI journal: https://doi.org/10.1145/3579859; 2) exploring potential usage scenarios of indoor drones (N=66), including investigating the notion of pet drone. In both studies, I found that participants were ambivalent towards the natural characteristics depending on given circumstances. This informs that utilising natural characteristics in human-robot interaction (HRI) may be compelling; however, there are pitfalls, and comprehensive strategies and careful considerations are required. I will also briefly present my research ideas of investigating interactions with bioinspired and biohybrid flying robots for my subsequent studies. [less ▲]