PRIveT – a portable ubiquitous robotics testbed for adaptive human-robot interaction

Abstract

Ubiquitous robots are robots integrated with smart environments, where they cooperate with networks of heterogeneous sensors to achieve complex tasks. Their successful application opens important research questions for both their engineering and their interaction with human users, especially in pub lic space scenarios, when they need to interact in a socially acceptable manner with multiple and previously unknown people. This article presents a testbed, named PRIveT, which is purposefully designed to support effective human-robot interaction (HRI) in public spaces. The PRIveT testbed consists of an ubiquitous robotic system that is able to autonomously engage and adapt to its users. This article describes the design rationale of the PRIveT testbed and its technical features, and presents four research studies that have used the testbed extensively. Reflections on the testbed features that were important in these studies and lessons learnt are also discussed. An assessment of the PRIveT testbed in terms of utility of the design for human-robot interaction experiments concludes the paper.