Look to my Lead: How Does a Leash Affect Perceptions of a Quadruped Robot?

The Boston Dynamics Spot robot as equipped for this study; including a laptop, Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR, and a Microsoft Azure Kinect point cloud camera.

Abstract

In this study, we explore graceful robot navigation in shared spaces, focusing on human-robot dyads resembling a dog and its handler. We examine five conditions: “Fully-Autonomous,” “Remote-Controlled,” “Companion,” “Leading,” and “Guided.” Participants observe these interactions and provide feedback via questionnaires. While initial questionnaire results show few significant differences, comparing conditions yields promising insights into participant attitudes toward the robot.

Team

Parth Chonkar , Geethika Hemkumar , Huihai Wang , Daksh Dua , Shikhar Gupta , Yao-Cheng Chan3 , Justin Hart , Elliott Hauser , Reuth Mirsky , Joydeep Biswas , Junfeng Jiao , and Peter Stone

The cover image is sourced from Pexels and is free of copyright issues.