WhatcanaPersonalRobotdofor.PDFVIP

Proc. TAROS2011, Sheffield, LNAI 6856, Springer, p.360-371. What can a Personal Robot do for you? Guido Bugmann and Simon. N. Copleston School of Computing and Mathematics University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, United Kingdom gbugmann@plymouth.ac.uk , Abstract. This is a report on the expectations of future users of personal robots based on a survey of 358 respondents with a median age of 22 years. A questionnaire was designed using a “text open ended” approach . The questions along with an introduction and sketch of a humanoid robot in a home were used to “paint the picture” of the respondents having a robot assistant at home. Respondent were then asked what they would ask the robot to do at various times of the day, at weekends and while away on holiday. The task category of “Housework” was the most popular, with 39% of the overall answers. “Food Preparation” and “Personal Service” were the second and third most popular categories with 16% and 14% respectively. Although many of such tasks can also be done by humans, there are potential qualitative benefits in using robots. These results suggest that research should provide solutions for cooking meals, tidying up, general cleaning and the preparation of drinks. Keywords: Personal robots, Service robot, User expectations, Survey, User survey, Household tasks, Robot tasks. 1 Introduction The robotic market has been predicted to boom in the near future, especially in the personal and service sectors [1]