Designing Interactions with Autonomous Physical Systems

TL;DR

Autonomous physical systems are increasingly deployed in urban environments, but public acceptance hinges on transparent, usable interfaces. The authors present four prototyping approaches—A Tangible Multi-Display Toolkit, B 360-degree Virtual Reality, C Urban Robotic Probes, and D Virtual Experience Prototypes—and apply them in urban-robot studies to design and evaluate HMIs around pedestrian interactions. They offer a preliminary classification across Fidelity, Ecological Validity, Level of Interaction, Collaborative Exploration, Engineering Effort, and Scalability to help researchers select suitable prototyping platforms. The paper argues for integrating explainable HMIs that make system decision-making visible to bystanders and highlights the need for multi-user, safe, and scalable prototyping methods for broader adoption in urban contexts.

Abstract

In this position paper, we present a collection of four different prototyping approaches which we have developed and applied to prototype and evaluate interfaces for and interactions around autonomous physical systems. Further, we provide a classification of our approaches aiming to support other researchers and designers in choosing appropriate prototyping platforms and representations.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: Four prototyping approaches for designing urban robotic interfaces.
• Figure 2: Classification of the prototyping approaches and definition of the classification dimensions.