Augmenting Consequential Sounds Produced by Robots for Improved Human Robot Interaction

Many people expect robots to move fairly quietly, or make pleasant ''beep boop'' sounds or jingles similar to what they have observed in videos of robots. Unfortunately, this expectation of quietness does not match reality, as robots make machine sounds, known as 'consequential sounds', as they move and operate. Robot consequential sounds have been shown to correlate with significantly more negative human perceptions of robots, including increased negative associated affects (such as anxiety), feeling more distracted, and being less willing to colocate in a shared environment with robots. With robots becoming more prevalent in the workplace, homes and public spaces, understanding the sounds produced by robots, how these sounds are perceived by people, alongside how to make improvements to these sounds is important for successful colocation with robots and positive human robot interactions (HRI). This research project examines how human perception of robots is effected by consequential sounds, properties of these sounds that cause these perceptions, and techniques for augmenting sounds produced by robots to create more successful human-robot colocations.

Publications

• Robots Have Been Seen and Not Heard: Effects of Consequential Sounds on Human-Perception of Robots
• Sound Judgment: Properties of Consequential Sounds Affecting Human-Perception of Robots