The Ambivalence towards Natural Characteristics in the Interactions with Small Indoor Flying Robots

Nature and humanity have been in constant and varied interactions throughout history and technological epochs. I conjecture that there are benefits to integrating natural characteristics into robot designs for their interactions with humans. I test this conjecture experimentally with a focus on close-range interactions with flying robots, using Research through Design (RtD) and mixed-methods approaches. In my half-PhD seminar, I will discuss the two studies I have carried out, namely: 1) overlaying natural sounds, i.e. birdsong and rain sound, on a noisy flying robot at three proxemic distances (N=56), accepted by ACM THRI journal: https://doi.org/10.1145/3579859; 2) exploring potential usage scenarios of indoor drones (N=66), including investigating the notion of pet drone. In both studies, I found that participants were ambivalent towards the natural characteristics depending on given circumstances. This informs that utilising natural characteristics in human-robot interaction (HRI) may be compelling; however, there are pitfalls, and comprehensive strategies and careful considerations are required. I will also briefly present my research ideas of investigating interactions with bioinspired and biohybrid flying robots for my subsequent studies.