Abstract
The growing use of service robots in hospitality highlights the need to understand how to effectively communicate with pre-occupied customers. This study investigates the efficacy of commonly used communication modalities by service robots, namely, acoustic/speech, visual display, and micromotion gestures in capturing attention and communicating intention with a user in a simulated restaurant scenario. We conducted a two-part user study (N=24) using a Temi robot to simulate delivery tasks, with participants engaged in a typing game (MonkeyType) to emulate a state of busyness. The participants' engagement in the typing game is measured by words per minute (WPM) and typing accuracy. In Part 1, we compared non-verbal acoustic cue versus baseline conditions to assess attention capture during a single-cup delivery task. In Part 2, we evaluated the effectiveness of speech, visual display, micromotion and their multimodal combination in conveying specific intentions (correct cup selection) during a two-cup delivery task. The results indicate that, while speech is highly effective in capturing attention, it is less successful in clearly communicating intention. Participants rated visual as the most effective modality for intention clarity, followed by speech, with micromotion being the lowest this http URL findings provide insights into optimizing communication strategies for service robots, highlighting the distinct roles of attention capture and intention communication in enhancing user experience in dynamic hospitality settings.
Abstract (translated)
在酒店业中越来越多地使用服务机器人突显了理解如何有效与忙碌中的顾客沟通的必要性。本研究探讨了服务机器人常用的三种沟通方式——声学/语音、视觉显示和微动手势，在模拟餐厅场景下捕获注意力并传达意图的效果。我们进行了一项两部分用户研究（N=24），使用Temi机器人来模拟送餐任务，参与者则通过玩打字游戏（MonkeyType）来模仿忙碌状态。参与者的投入程度通过每分钟单词数和打字准确性衡量。 在第一部分中，我们将非语言声学提示与基线条件进行了比较，以评估单一杯子递送任务中的注意力捕获情况。 在第二部分中，我们评估了语音、视觉显示、微动以及这些多模态组合传达特定意图（正确选择杯子）的有效性，在双杯递送任务中进行测试。 研究结果表明，尽管语音在吸引注意方面非常有效，但在清晰传达意图方面并不成功。参与者认为视觉是最有效的传达意图的方式，其次是语音，而微动被评价为最低效的模态。 这些发现提供了优化服务机器人沟通策略的见解，强调了注意力捕获和意图传达在提升动态酒店环境中用户体验中的不同作用。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17241
