Corporate Robot Motion Identity

Mobile robotic systems are increasingly merging into human dominated areas and therefore will interact and coordinate with pedestrians in private and public spaces. To ease intuitive coordination in human-robot interaction, robots should be able to express intent via motion. This will enable an observer to quickly and confidently infer the robot’s goal to establish productive encounters. For long-term interaction, trajectories in straight drive or curvature have been optimized for this purpose. In addition, short-term movement cues are perceivable changes in motion parameters and direction of movement that can be utilized to express intent in a non-verbal manner. For example, yielding priority to a person via a short back-off movement cue, as opposed to merely a stop, provides the possibility of legible and agreeable robot navigation. In the service design domain, the front line personnel’s behavior is a crucial quality factor of how an organization is perceived by customers and society. Recent developments show that mobile robotic systems are increasingly supplementing a service company’s front line personnel. Companies such as Starship Technologies or Deutsche Post apply service robots for transportation purposes. Integrating robot motion into an organization’s visual identity to communicate the visual cues of what the organization wants to express could contribute to the customer experience. In order to provide movement cues that are not only legible, but convey an inherent personality of the robot carrying out the task and therefore reflect on the organization’s public image, we discuss aforementioned factors for consideration when developing a corporate robot motion identity. We integrate service quality domains and affected human roles for application in the creative practice of designing motion. Thus, recognizable movement cues which are designed to express intent to coexisting and cooperating pedestrians in an everyday context can be tailored to what an organization wants to express to its environment, customers or other stakeholders.