Humanoid Robotics: Guidelines for Usability Testing

Abstract

In the macrofield of human–computer interaction, human–robot interaction (HRI) is a relatively new and unexplored field of study. As several efforts have been made in robotics to expand the range of functionalities of hardware and software, perhaps the hardest challenge is to ensure good usability and fluid interaction for users. With regard to remote operated robots, these aspects are unrelated and the interaction features may be taken into account at an advanced design stage. Nevertheless, when it comes to humanoid robots, interaction features are the keypoint, therefore the design of the latter should be driven by UX and UCD practices. The actual fact is that too little attention is paid to these issues or, at best, the latter are approached by IT’s point of view, who are in charge of the software development. In conjunction, a team of engineers take care of the mechanical parts and, in the most highly developed project, the appearance is curated by industrial designers. Given the importance of the interaction features, the design process should be rearranged in favour of the last-mentioned phase. However, the team in charge of this task should be composed of industrial designers, that we can consider as UI designers, along with UX expert. This study applies UX practices to the design process of a humanoid robot, providing practical guidance and guidelines to put in place usability testing during the various stages of development. Regarding testing, only user satisfaction is often investigated. Instead, the present approach includes an adaptation of typical elements of the web design area, such as learnability, efficiency, memorability and errors.