Evaluation of Proxemics in Dynamic Interaction with a Mixed Reality Avatar Robot

Abstract

We present a mixed-reality avatar arm swing technique to subtly communicate the velocity of a robotic it is attached to. We designed and performed a series of studies to investigate the effectiveness of this method and the proxemics when humans have dynamic interaction with the avatar robot (Figure 3). Our results suggest that robot moving speed has a significant effect on the proxemics between human and mixed-reality avatar robot. Attaching an avatar to the robot did not have a significant influence on the proxemics compared to a baseline situation (robot only). Participants reported that this method helped improve perception and prediction on the robot state. Participants also commented favourably regarding its potential applications like noticing a tiny ground robot. Our work offers reference and guidelines for external expression of the robot state with mixed reality.