Busy Spots Make Bad Robot Stops
■ Every time it starts, someone walks in front
A morning outpatient lobby. Hakobukun waited for guide jobs right in front of the main reception. Mr. Morita asked to be taken to the exam room, but each time it tried to set off, someone crossed in front of it. Stop. Someone else. Stop again. Mr. Morita had been waiting forever. Makihara came over and scratched his head: he had parked it where the most people walk.
■ What is convenient for people is hard for robots
In a robot trial at a hospital in Kanagawa, Japan, the guide robot could not start moving because of the crowd in front of the main reception. The team moved its starting position and added a way to begin guiding from a distance. The reception area is easy for people to find. But where the flow of people never stops, a robot that politely stops for everyone never gets going.
■ Conclusion: Park the robot outside the flow of people
Hakobukun's waiting spot moved to beside a lobby pillar. When guidance is requested from the reception desk screen, it rolls out from there. Separate where people call the robot from where it waits, and it can guide without standing in the crowd.
Put the base just off the busiest spot, not on it.
