attentive

processing

joyful

explaining

recording

comforting

My robot is ACTIVE, but how can I let it express that?

Robots going social – Over 40 reusable,
behavioral expressions for your robot design.

Welcome to the Robot Behavior Pattern Wiki for Human-Robot-Interaction

You are a designer or software developer working with social robots and constantly looking to make its behavior comprehensive and pleasent for the user.

Based on extensive research in user experience design and ethis, our Pattern Wiki provides design recommendation for our 40 different states and intentions communicatiion goals of a robot. Our patterns are modular – you can use and combine them as required for your project and specific robot.

How to find what you need

Categories you’ll find patterns for

Having a conversation

Conversating is one of our most important tools achieving a succesfull conversation. Many robots are designed to communicate via speech – but how can non-verbal expressions be used to enhance communication?

Browse patterns for conversation-related robot behavior.

Communicating robot state

To be able to anticipate (future) actions of the robot, the user needs to understand the current state of the robot. Thus, it is important to make sure that the current state of the robot is always visible to the user.

Browse here for ideas how to express the current state of the robot.

Communicating background activity

Internal processing of the robot is hardly ever visbile from the outside. In these situations, it might be difficult for the user to understand what is going on and what is going to happen next.

Browse here to discover ways to let your robot communicate background activity.

Expressing an emotion

Social interaction is often accompaigned by emotions. You want to make your robot an empathetic interaction partner for the user?

Browse patterns for emotional expressions of a robot.

Giving feedback

Feedback is an important design principle in interaction design. There are several ways a robot can react to a user input.

Browse patterns that can be used to let the robot provide feedback to the user.

Playing a game

At home, social robots are often used for entertainment purposes. Meaningful behavior can make your robot more engaging and fun to play with.

Browse game-play related patterns.

Navigating public spaces

Changes in a robot’s movement direction or speed can sometimes be difficult for users to anticipate. Making these changes transparent helps users better understand the robot’s behavior and intentions.

Browse patterns that show ways your robot can communicate upcoming movement changes.

Communicating a current task

A robot’s current task is not always obvious to people around it. When the robot communicates what it is currently doing, users can better understand its behavior and anticipate what will happen next.

Browse patterns that show how your robot can communicate its current task.

Indicating safety distance

When interacting with a robot, keeping a certain safety distance can be important to avoid collisions or disruptions of its task. In some situations, users may not be aware that they are getting too close.

Browse patterns that help your robot encourage users to maintain a safe distance.

Managing user's attention

During interaction, a robot may need to direct the user’s attention to itself or to specific points of interest in the environment. Clear cues can help users quickly understand where to look.

Browse patterns that show how your robot can guide the user’s attention effectively.

Preventing robot bullying

Robots that operate in public or shared spaces may sometimes be subject to teasing, rough handling, or other forms of disruptive behavior. Appropriate responses can help discourage such actions while maintaining a positive interaction experience.

Browse patterns that help your robot respond to and discourage harmful behavior.

Composed and atomic patterns

The pattern wiki is structured by different categories that will help you to find the right patterns for your design problem. Within each category, you will find 2 types of patterns: Atomic patterns and Composed Patterns.

Atomic patterns

… are the smallest building blocks of the robot’s behavior. You can combine different atomic patterns to create your own behavioral expressions according to your needs.

Composed patterns

… are combinations of atomic patterns that describe a bit more complex behavioral expressions for social robots – ready to use for various interaction scenarios.