Lend a hand to service robots: Overcoming system limitations by asking humans

Abstract

Service robots such as vacuum-cleaning robots have already entered our homes. But in the future there will also be robots in public spaces. These robots may often reach their system limitations while performing their day-to-day work. To address this issue we suggest asking passersby for help. We enhanced an iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaning robot to set up a low-budgetWizard-of-Oz (WOZ) evaluation platform designed to investigate human-robot interaction (HRI). Furthermore, we suggest how HRI can be investigated in public spaces with a robot in need. An early evaluation shows that our prototype is a promising approach to explore how robots can cope with their limitations by asking somebody for help.