Operation mode on

Communicating robot state | Atomic | Light

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Preamble

Type

Atomic Pattern, Communicating robot state

Ranking

* (tentative)

Version

1

Author

Kathrin Pollmann (kathrin.pollmann@iao.fraunhofer.de)

Design Challenge

Interaction Situation

The operation state of the robot needs to be transparent to the user at any time of the interaction. In all situations during which the robot is preparing to interact with the user, actively engages in interaction with the user, or the user provides input for the robot, the robot communicates that it is turned on and thus able to generate output and process user input during the interaction.

Communication
Goal

“I am turned on.”

Design Solution

Solution

To indicate the current operation mode of the robot, a dedicated status light is recommended that can be used independently of any other communication modality. This status light should be of an unobtrusive, non-attention-grabbing color such as white, light yellow or light blue. To show that the robot is turned on, the status light should be permanently glowing. Make sure to design a consistent behavior of the status light for the patterns Operation mode on, Operation mode off and Operation mode standby.

Rationale

In human-technology interaction it is very common to indicate the operation mode of a device through a glowing light. This design practice can easily be transferred to robots. A yellow color is often used. Warm colors and light colors have been shown to be less attention-grabbing and can thus be chosen to implement a rather ambient status light. References and further reading: Baraka & Veloso, 2018; Terada, Yamauchi, & Ito, 2012

References and
Context

Is needed by: Processing, Showing, Listening, Explaining, Getting ready to play, Encouraging good performance, Joyful positive feedback, Empathic negative feedback, Active

Is opposed to: Operation mode standby, Operation mode off

Light

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