Domestic IoT appliances like smart speakers, smart locks and robot vacuum cleaners are usually connected, monitored and controlled via smartphone apps. Despite the rich number of sensors and actuators available in smartphones, these apps primarily provide graphical user interfaces with these appliances. To explore a more somatically engaging experience the prototype JoyTilt was designed. It is a tilt-based remote control for robotic vacuum cleaners that was developed and tested with users. JoyTilt enabled participants to have their gaze focused on the robotic vacuum cleaner while controlling it. Interviews with the participants provide suggestions for balancing control of robot vacuum cleaners while keeping the robot's autonomy. In this study the somaesthetics, the interactive materials and choice of interaction model come together in the design to shape the human-robot relationship. Lastly, the study highlights thevalues of further considering thebodily experience when designing apps.
• Human-centered computing~Human computer interaction (HCI)~Interaction techniques~Gesturalinput
An increasingly common way of interacting with the world around us is through applications on smartphones [1]. Being mostly associated with their tiny graphical interfaces [3], it is Copyright 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). also well known that smartphones include a rich set of motion sensors, light sensors and sound detection, along with auditory and haptic feedback, which could provide very diefrent experiences. Although smartphones contain these sensors and more, they are rarely used to communicate with smart appliances in your home. Development of apps is also still bound to the desktop paradigm in its focus on the visual and clickable interaction and user flow as they are typically shaped in desktop settings.
The bodily experience of mobile apps are largely disregarded in app development today, in particular when it comes to apps used to control and interact with autonomous or semi autonomous devices in IoT settings. To explore this topic an exploratory design of playful interactions with the robot vacuum cleaner Pure i9 from Electrolux was conducted. The explorations resulted in the prototype JoyTilt that enables users to control the robot vacuum cleaner by tilting a phone. The study was conducted at Electrolux in the Consumer Experience Software Team for air purifiers and robot vacuum cleaners.
This study aimed at creating a connected physical experience rather than the normal smartphone application standard of visual experience. We propose an aesthetic quality in designing that type of experience, focusing on a connected experience with a physical appliance being just that - physical. This study highlights how JoyTilt enabled users to keep their gaze on the robot while controlling it. The study also ufond that JoyTilt provides a way of temporarily taking control over the autonomous robot when it misses some dirt or needs help getting past an obstacle. The design was engaging, created a somatically connected experience and opened a space rfo rfuther ideation. 2
Robot vacuum cleaners are tools rfo vacuuming our oflors, but also a social part of the households they are in. By naming the vacuums, talking to them and videotaping our pets riding on them we are welcoming them to take part in the more playful and social activities in the home. The robot is perhaps acquired rof cleaning your home, but also blends into the varying social