Pop-up Robotics: Facilitating HRI in Public Spaces

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research in public spaces often encounters delays and restrictions due to several factors, including the need for sophisticated technology, regulatory approvals, and public or community support. To remedy these concerns, we suggest HRI can apply the core philosophy of Tactical Urbanism, a concept from urban planning, to catalyze HRI in public spaces, provide community feedback and information on the feasibility of future implementations of robots in the public, and also create social impact and forge connections with the community while spreading awareness about robots as a public resource. As a case study, we share tactics used and strategies followed to conduct a pop-up style study of 'A robotic mailbox to support and raise awareness about homelessness.' We discuss benefits and challenges of the pop-up approach, and recommend using it to enable the social studies of HRI not only to match, but to precede, the fast-paced technological advancement and deployment of robots.