Abstract
User Confusion leads to misunderstandings about the robot or the situation, and influences customer satisfaction. This study evaluates users’ understanding of commercially available robot statuses presented by LED indicators. Images and videos of indicators of nine robots were taken from manufacturers’ websites and were manipulated to assess how specific visual qualities of indicators, color, and animation, affect users. One hundred and forty-seven respondents participated in an online study. They were asked to: 1) select the animation that best fits a given status description, 2) rank the compatibility between an indicator and a written status description, and 3) select the status description that best fits a given animation. Results indicated that, in most cases, the manufacturers’ intention was not well understood by respondents. Understandability was affected by the indicator’s visual qualities and status prevalence. Recommendations and gaps are detailed.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Israel (Grant 3-15625), and by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev through the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Agricultural, Biological and Cognitive Robotics Initiative, the W. Gunther Plaut Chair in Manufacturing Engineering and by the George Shrut Chair in Human performance management.
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Liberman-Pincu, E., Honig, S., Oron-Gilad, T. (2023). Why are You Blinking at Me? Exploring Users’ Understanding of Robotic Status Indicators. In: da Silva, H.P., Cipresso, P. (eds) Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications. CHIRA 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1996. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49425-3_17
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