Emotional expressions of non-humanoid urban robots

Abstract

Self-moving robots may soon be ubiquitous in urban spaces, thereby enabling a wide range of use cases. To increase their social acceptance, previous work has explored how non-humanoid robots can express emotional states through various modalities, such as lights and movement. However, the majority of research has been carried out in controlled lab experiments, raising questions about their ecological validity. In this work, we present the design of emotional expressions for an urban robot via low-resolution lighting patterns and motion cues. We present an in-the-wild evaluation using questionnaires and interviews (N=72). Our findings suggest that a range of contextual aspects can influence the perception of the robot and its emotional expressions, such as overall choreography and interactional context, immediate impact of the environment, coupled with people's own emotions and past experiences. Our analysis thus outlines challenges and provides guidance for designers and researchers working with urban robots.