Delivery robots transport food from vendors to customers. We followed them along their deliveries and highlight that they do not pass through empty roads: they enter spaces that are inhabited.
The robots encounter traces of human daily life (such as trash bins that are put out on bin day). They also meet various people who are typically not the users of the robot, “members of the street”, who are working and living in the spaces that the robot passes through. We show how they accommodate the robots on their way, by stepping aside and moving obstacles – performing subtle adjustments that often remain unnoticed by designers.
Results published at [HRI2024].
More information about the project Understanding Robot Autonomy in Public
Hannah Pelikan 