Will the consideration of Psychological aspects during robot development make it better?
My name is Raviteja Burugu, I am from India and studying for an M.Sc. in Robotics at Canfield University. I hope you have read my previous blog about the first two steps of designing a Campus Robot by considering Human-Robot interactions. If not, have a look here. In this blog, I am writing about the psychological aspects of robot designing as per HRI principles.
The first step was to define the problem statement, the second one is the 5W -1H analysis and the next two steps in the development of a Campus Robot using HRI principles are:
- Development team needed for a Campus Robot.
2. Potential Users of the Campus Robot.
Humans are involved in the procedure as a development team and as potential users. Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Do we need to consider psychology while designing a robot?
Different user groups /development teams are involved, each have their own behavior and habits. So how can we make sure different user groups accept the campus robot we are developing? How we can design a robot that gives the best experience to users? What should it look like? Do the looks make any difference?
This is the reason we will follow the HRI principles, The Goal of HRI is to achieve a more natural and effective interaction between humans and robots. There are various aspects of psychology that we need to consider: psychological parameters like user-centric designing, considering individual differences, following a research methodology.
Harvard Business Review quoted evidence that 70% to 80% of new product development failures is not through lack of technology, but for lack of understanding of the user’s needs. It is not always that what user wants is what they need, it is always important for us to understand the perspective of the user and finding out what they need. The figure below gives a basic idea about the User Cantered design.
As part of Campus Robot development, in this step based on our potential users, we need to decide about the size of the screen we choose either a bigger screen like television or smaller like a money withdrawal machine. We need to consider what is the aim of this robot? How you envisage people interacting with it? Which will give a better experience? The design that makes potential users feel more satisfied and give good performance needs to be chosen. Doing this will make sure that developed campus robot will functionally efficient and accepted by the users.
I have just scratched the surface of one of the topics related to psychology which is the most important aspect to be considered as per my view. Many aspects were discussed during the courses that made me think about the importance of psychological aspects during the development of the robot.
In the next blog, I will write about the design methodology, requirements gathering, and concept design steps in developing the campus robot.
If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us via email at rudraalabs@gmail.com! And please follows Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/rudraalabs/. As always, feel free to send us any questions or feedback you might have.
Thank you for reading the blog.
