The Power of Color: A Study on the Effective Use of Colored Light in Human-Robot Interaction
This work addresses the problem of designing simple feedback mechanisms for mobile robots in human-robot interaction, but it is incremental as it builds on existing research on color usage without introducing new methods or broad advancements.
The study investigated how colored light can be used as feedback in human-robot interaction by analyzing color preferences from 56 participants in scenarios where a mobile robot succeeded, failed, or waited for help. Results showed connections between colors and meanings, influenced by factors like technical affinity, experience, and gender, but not by favorite color.
In times of more and more complex interaction techniques, we point out the powerfulness of colored light as a simple and cheap feedback mechanism. Since it is visible over a distance and does not interfere with other modalities, it is especially interesting for mobile robots. In an online survey, we asked 56 participants to choose the most appropriate colors for scenarios that were presented in the form of videos. In these scenarios a mobile robot accomplished tasks, in some with success, in others it failed because the task is not feasible, in others it stopped because it waited for help. We analyze in what way the color preferences differ between these three categories. The results show a connection between colors and meanings and that it depends on the participants' technical affinity, experience with robots and gender how clear the color preference is for a certain category. Finally, we found out that the participants' favorite color is not related to color preferences.