Evaluating the Effectiveness of Iconography for Representing Robot Mental States in the Build-A-Bot Platform

Benjamin Dossett, Weston Laity, Maisey Toczek, Robel Mamo, Jordan Sinclair, Nicole Train, Daniel E. Pittman, Kerstin Sophie Haring

Abstract: Robot designers and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) practitioners can face challenges when people form a mental model of a robot that is not appropriate. Although the field of robotics would benefit significantly from a broad representation of designers, there is currently no comprehensive method of including many people in the design process and no theory of what expectations a robot design feature might elicit. We seek to address these challenges through the creation of a robot design platform, an online tool similar to a character creation interface in a video game, where users create a robot design. By collecting a large number of robot designs from users, we seek to be able to identify aspects of a robot’s design that influence the mental models humans ascribe to the robot. To maximize the universal usability of the platform, we conducted a three-part survey to assess which icons should be used to visually represent the mental states ascribed to the robots created by users on the platform. In our assessment, we found nine icons that met our criteria for use in the platform and others that should be further evaluated.