=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2617/paper10
|storemode=property
|title=MaDrone: Using Drones to Facilitate Connectedness Across Geographic Boundaries
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2617/paper10.pdf
|volume=Vol-2617
|authors=Mikołaj P. Woźniak,Sebastian Feger,Matthias Hoppe,Thomas Kosch,Stephanie Van de Sandt,Jakob Karolus,Luke Haliburton,Paweł W. Woźniak,Jasmin Niess
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/chi/WozniakFHKSKHWN20
}}
==MaDrone: Using Drones to Facilitate Connectedness Across Geographic Boundaries==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2617/paper10.pdf
MaDrone: Using Drones to Facilitate
Connectedness Across Geographic
Boundaries
Mikołaj P. Woźniak1 , Sebastian Feger2 , Matthias Hoppe2 , Abstract
Thomas Kosch2 , Stephanie Van de Sandt 3 , Jakob Karolus2 , The emergence of affordable consumer drones promises
Luke Haliburton2 , Paweł W. Woźniak4 , Jasmin Niess5 new perspectives for interacting with the physical world
around us. Affordable, accessible, and easy to operate
1
Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland drones have the potential to overcome geographic bound-
mpwozniak@ubicomp.pl aries between users living in different locations and sub-
2
LMU Munich, Munich, Germany sequently foster connectedness. Yet, the design space of
sebastian.stefan.feger@cern.ch, name.surname@um.ifi.lmu.de using drones to facilitate social interactions beyond geo-
3
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland graphic boundaries is still underexplored. In this position
stephanie.van.de.sandt@cern.ch paper, we envision principles derived from the concept of
4
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands lucid engagement and the psychological need for connect-
p.w.wozniak@uu.nl edness to explore how drones can mediate social inter-
5
University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg actions. We introduce our design concept and discuss it
jasmin.niess@uni.lu based on a specific application scenario. We discuss the
opportunities and challenges related to our interaction con-
cept. Finally, we outline next steps for future research.
Author Keywords
Human-drone interaction; social connectedness; ludic en-
gagement; drone
This paper is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Introduction and Background
(CC-BY 4.0) license. Authors reserve their rights to disseminate the work on their
personal and corporate Web sites with the appropriate attribution.
In recent years drones have become affordable for the
Interdisciplinary Workshop on Human-Drone Interaction (iHDI 2020) average consumer. Simultaneously, the field of Human-
CHI ’20 Extended Abstracts, 26 April 2020, Honolulu, HI, US
© Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License.
Computer Interaction (HCI) started to explore the design
space of Human-Drone Interaction.
Broader selections of different drone models and sizes and qualities to facilitate connectedness through shared geo-
the availability of automation frameworks [8] foster the cre- graphic exploration.
ation of new concepts and prototyping of novel drone based
user interfaces. MaDrone: Facilitating Connectedness
With MaDrone, we have identified opportunities for connect-
Studies have shown that ‘flying user interfaces’ [6] can be edness that go beyond face-to-face video communication,
used, among other things, to interact with the world around as detailed below.
us, such as to provide assistance [2, 3] and as a means to
interact with other people [19, 18]. Consequently, drones Connecting people MaDrone allows people, e.g. friends
have the potential to significantly shape our communication and family, to connect remotely, i.e. across geographic bor-
landscape [5]. However, drones have mainly been used to ders. The possibility to share visual content over long dis-
foster utilitarian activities. There has been little exploration tances supports social connectedness among users, espe-
of their potential for more ephemeral interaction qualities cially when they live in different geographic regions.
going beyond facilitating communication, such as fostering
connectedness between humans. A sense of social con- Providing a Bird’s Eye View Contrary to prevalent video
nectedness includes feeling connected to the world around communication, drones can provide a feeling of explor-
you, being part of the society, and feeling close to other ing through the bird’s eye view, allowing for ludic engage-
people [15]. ment [7]. Through directly influencing the visual content that
is created, we create a feeling of agency for the user [16].
Drones also have inherent characteristics which make them
Increased immersion can also be obtained through interac-
particularly suitable for supporting playful, ludic interactions.
tive arrangement simulating the natural way of conduct. En-
They are transportable, easy to operate, and they also ad-
abling the remote participant to perceive both the presence
dress human fascination with flying objects. Ludic activities
of the other person and their surroundings may enhance
describe playful activities driven by curiosity, such as geo-
the social benefits of telepresence experience.
graphic exploration [7]. However, even though drones have
been used as toys (e.g. [10]), as hovering touchable objects
[12] (e.g. for VR [9, 1]), and to support communication [19], Negotiation of Control MaDrone allows users to nego-
the design space of drones to facilitate social interaction, tiate and share control (cf. Fig. 1) over the video content.
exploration, and ludic engagement is still underexplored. Previous work has already showed that shared interactive
Hence, one of the aims of this position paper is to envision systems (e.g. tabletops) that facilitate interaction between
the potential of drones to support social connectedness co-located users can potentially lead to new communication
through geographic exploration of spatially separated users. mechanisms [17]. Here, we aim to explore how novel inter-
active systems (i.e. drones) can be used for geographically
In contrast to previous work that explored drones as digi- distributed users.
tal companions (e.g. to accompany the user on their way
home) [11, 13, 14], we envision integrating the digital com- Connectedness beyond Social Bonds By building an
panion qualities of the drone with the human companion understanding of the living environment of another and
sharing the experience of exploring an area, MaDrone cre- techniques [4], these traditionally assume that the drone
ates a feeling of social connectedness. In addition, actively has a single pilot. In contrast, one of the main challenges
exploring remote geographic areas supports building an that arise from our vision is facilitating a positive experience
understanding of other living contexts and subsequently of the navigation negotiation in a dyad or a group of more
fosters connectedness that goes beyond social bonds. It than two people.
allows connectedness to nature and society, and creates a
feeling of ‘being there’. Another interaction design challenge stemming from our
vision is designing for the domestication of drones so that
Scenario they can become everyday objects, possibly fostering lu-
Figure 1 illustrates the concept of MaDrone in the form of a dic engagement. As users are often overwhelmed with the
storyboard. The storyboard describes communication and initial perceived complexity of operating a drone or simply
negotiation between Lisa and Max, as well as the interac- scared of being hit, future designs should enable simplified
tion with a drone located with Max. control so that a variety of audiences can have access to
the drone’s social features.
Initially, Max invites Lisa to explore the city with him. Lisa
is excited about this opportunity. When she accepts the Conclusion
invitation, Max decides to guide Lisa through a nearby park. In this position paper, we shared our vision of how drones
He instructs the drone to follow him. can be used to facilitate social interaction through enabling
exploring geographical location together. We showed how
Lisa enjoys exploring the park with Max. She follows his shared drone interaction can foster social connectedness
tour on her computer screen. Later, she requests to take between remote users and thus cater to their social needs.
control over the drone. Max receives her request and ac- We illustrated our vision with a scenario and a storyboard.
cepts it. The concept presented here illustrates a key challenge to
Human-Computer Interaction: designing interfaces that en-
Lisa can now steer the drone herself and even focus the
able multiple users to collaboratively use drones for social
camera on scenery that she wants to explore. She could
exploration. Further, our work suggests that drones can
control the drone with her keyboard and mouse, but decides
become a medium for ludic interaction.
to connect a joystick that she owns. Finally, when Max de-
cides to return home, he instructs MaDrone to return.
Discussion and Next Steps
Adding more users to a shared drone experience produces
challenges and opportunities. Future interfaces where mul-
tiple users control a drone will need to include the means
to negotiate navigation. While past work explored different
navigation modes, such as gestural interaction with flying
drones and cultural influences on human-drone interaction
Figure 1: The storyboard illustrates a scenario of how MaDrone can facilitate connectedness across geographic boundaries.
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