Virtual Robot Riding with a Person in a Real Elevator - Mixed Reality System for Robot Behavior Design

Abstract

To provide more services on multiple floors in buildings, recent mobile robots have the capability to take elevators and need to board them with other passengers. When a mobile robot boards an elevator, the current technological limitations result in stress for the surrounding passengers. However, it is still unclear what impressions a robot’s quick boarding behavior will impart to surrounding passengers, when such limitations are removed in the future and mobile robots acquire human-like quick movements. It is also difficult to increase the speed of robots drastically in a manner which ensures the safety of experiment participants. In this study, we developed a mixed reality system that integrates a virtual robot into the real world to ensure the physical safety of participants during the experiment. Visual and auditory information about the virtual robot was provided to participants through a head-mounted display and was synchronized with the robot’s behavior. We focused on three basic factors of robot’s boarding behavior: forward speed during entry, rotation speed, and rotation direction in the elevator car. A statistical analysis revealed that quick, human-like entry into an elevator by a virtual robot reduces perceived anthropomorphism, likeability, intelligence, and safety, and increases the stress levels experienced by the passengers. The statistical analysis also showed that quick rotation inside the elevator by the virtual robot reduces perceived likeability. Our results provide useful knowledge for designing the behavior of future robots when they board elevators with other passengers.