Prime: Towards the design of a small interactive office robot

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation of Prime, a small interactive office robot with features to support daily office activities by transporting small desktop supplies, carrying reminder notes and performing other gadget utilities. In order to create an effective inclusion of the robot in this particular workspace, the design of Prime is centered in three important aspects: functionality, aesthetics and interaction. This work is an exploratory research aimed to study the novel inclusion of small service robots in office environments and serve as a research platform to conduct human-robot interaction theories and experiments. The design and implementation of the presented robot results from an interdisciplinary work, including a survey to define Prime’s functionality and behavior in response to specific office needs, as well as its design process that comprehends sketching, scale modeling and 3D prototyping.