Gesture Assigmnent

Gesture Assignment #

Assignment Handout

Group members: Agata, Hyunji, Ilona, Otso (myself)

We arranged a meetup and discussed new ideas and ones we had already come up with on our own. Finding a physical interaction that would be fun and/or interesting enough was quite difficult as the assignment’s instructions were quite broad.

Some of the gestures & interactions we discussed:

  • Frustrated hand waving –> Progressively creating a more soothing atmosphere through music
  • Wiping one’s feet –> Activating a roomba that vacuums the floor
  • Framing something with hands –> ???
  • Nodding off while driving a car –> Spraying the driver with water
  • High-fiving a delivery robot –> Confirming that a delivery has reached the recipient
  • A hand-holding robot that helps kids / the elderly cross a street

We ended up choosing high-fiving a delivery robot as our gesture & interaction combination. We felt that it was physical and added a human touch to the otherwise very app-centered way of interacting with the robots. One of our driving ideas was that since quite many people already find the (sometimes clumsy) robots cute, they might enjoy a more physical interaction with them when ordering groceries. On the flipside, the interaction might make the robots slightly more likeable to those who find them creepy.

We filmed a short video clip to present the interaction:

LINK TBA (We’ll show it in class)

All in all, while I found the assignment quite challenging to come up with ideas for, our group worked together well to ideate a fun physical interaction.

As for how I feel about the delivery robots in general, I dislike them, but their appearance is the least of my concerns. I generally dislike the idea of private companies taking over public space without compensation. While the robots hardly create a safety hazard with their speed or unexpected movements, them getting stuck presents an accessibility issue and sometimes forces pedestrians to walk on cycling paths or the road. I dislike the rent-a-scooter companies for the same reasons, even if I do think that electric scooters themselves are a handy and welcome addition to the options one can choose to get around in an urban environment.