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With the pandemic preventing access to universities and consequently limiting in-person user studies, it is imperative to explore other mediums for conducting user studies for human-robot interaction. Virtual reality (VR) presents a novel and promising research platform that can potentially offer a creative and accessible environment for HRI studies. Despite access to VR being limited given its hardware requirements (e.g. need for headsets), web-based VR offers universal access to VR utilities through web browsers. In this paper, we present a participatory design pilot study, aimed at exploring the use of co-design of a robot using web-based VR. Results seem to show that web-based VR environments are engaging and accessible research platforms to gather environment and interaction data in HRI.
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This content will become publicly available on March 4, 2026
Developing Robot Prototypes to Explore Robot-Facilitated Family Routines
In this late-breaking report, we present our design process motivated to build tangible, cost-effective, child- and family-friendly social robot prototypes aimed to (1) support the practical needs of families, as well as (2) serve as a feasible research platform to mitigate technical and logistical challenges faced within conducting in-home HRI studies. We apply a research through design approach, combined with participatory design methods, to produce functional prototypes. In future work, we are preparing to continue improving prototype design by conducting (1) iterative co-design sessions with artists and product designers focusing on the hardware design, (2) iterative co-design sessions with families focusing on the interaction design, and (3) long-term technology probe studies in homes to evaluate the effectiveness of the technological platform. We aim to solicit feedback from the HRI community on our design process and prototype research platform.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2312354
- PAR ID:
- 10650084
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1342 to 1346
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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