Evaluating Assistive Technologies on a Trade Fair: Methodological Overview and Lessons Learned
Annalies Baumeister, Felix Goldau, Max Pascher, Jens Gerken, Udo Frese, Patrizia Tolle
TL;DR
This paper addresses the challenge of evaluating assistive technologies for small, mobility-impaired populations by conducting user studies at care-focused trade fairs, enabling access to a large, relevant participant pool in a real-world setting. It describes a mobile, time-efficient methodology with parallel roles, ethical considerations, and a minimal booth setup to study shared manual control of robot arms for wheelchair users. Through twoTrade-fair studies—Study A (explorative) and Study B (final evaluation)—the authors demonstrate how on-site recruitment can yield rich qualitative insights and diverse user profiles, while also outlining practical limitations and strategies for data collection in busy environments. The work contributes actionable guidance for researchers considering trade-fair field studies and highlights the balance between ecological validity and experimental control, with a tangible impact on future design and evaluation of assistive robotics in real-world contexts.
Abstract
User-centered evaluations are a core requirement in the development of new user related technologies. However, it is often difficult to recruit sufficient participants, especially if the target population is small, particularly busy, or in some way restricted in their mobility. We bypassed these problems by conducting studies on trade fairs that were specifically designed for our target population (potentially care-receiving individuals in wheelchairs) and therefore provided our users with external incentive to attend our study. This paper presents our gathered experiences, including methodological specifications and lessons learned, and is aimed to guide other researchers with conducting similar studies. In addition, we also discuss chances generated by this unconventional study environment as well as its limitations.