Comparison of Human-Drone Distancing Studies across In-Person and Online Modalities

Karissa Jelonek, Siya Kunde, Nathan Simms, Gerson Uriarte, Brittany Duncan

Abstract:

Human–robot proxemics behaviors can vary based on personal, robot, and environmental factors which, along
with their deployment in public-facing interactions, calls for an in-depth exploration. This article explores the
impact of altitude and safety modifications of small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV) on users’ comfortable
interaction distance. By leveraging interaction techniques from literature like video, sound, and simulations,
we explore personal space interactions in online studies (N = 376) with the sUAV and the Double telepresence
robot. We then compare the findings with our in-person interaction data (N = 47). While in-person interactions
are the ultimate goal, online methods can be used to reduce resources, allow larger sample sizes, and may lead
to a more comprehensive sampling of population than would be expected from in-person studies. The lessons
learned from this work are applicable broadly within the social robotics community, even outside those who
are interested in proxemics interactions, to conduct future crowd-sourced experiments. The various modalities
provided similar trends when compared with data from in-person studies. While the distances may not have
been precise compared to those measured in the real world, these experiments are useful to detect patterns in
human–robot interactions, and to conduct formative studies before committing resources to in-person testing