User Experience of Social Service Robots: A Pragmatic Approach to the Integration and Adoption of UX in Robotics Companies

Social service robots are increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives, but robotics companies have faced unexpected difficulties in bringing these robots successfully to market. This dissertation argues that one reason for this is the insufficient integration and adoption of User Experience (UX) in robot development by robotics companies. While the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) literature has contributed to high-quality design frameworks, these do not adequately balance business needs, technical development, and UX. There is a lack of research that accounts for industry robot designers’ requirements for HRI design frameworks, describes the design and development of robots, and addresses the organizational mechanisms influencing UX integration in robot development and adoption within robotics companies. To effectively support multidisciplinary robot design teams’ integration and adoption of UX, a better understanding of how robotics companies develop robots is essential.

This dissertation applies a pragmatic research approach to bridge these gaps and addresses the following research questions: 1) What requirements do industry robot designers have for HRI design frameworks?; 2) how do organizational mechanisms influence UX integration in robot development and adoption in robotics companies?; and 3) how can robotics companies be supported to integrate and adopt UX? The dissertation identifies industry robot designers’ key requirements for HRI design frameworks, guiding the development of the Robot Design Canvas (RODECA). It introduces digital ethnography as a cost-efficient methodology to enhance traditional competitor analysis, market and application exploration, and integration of UX insights in robot development, while raising contextual sensitivity in robot design teams. Additionally, the dissertation presents the first longitudinal case study and action research on UX integration and adoption in a robotics company. The case study provides rich, contextualized insights into how mechanical and software teams embed UX in robot development. The action research offers a detailed examination of barriers influencing how UX integration and adoption work in a large, well-established robotics company and implements 21 strategies to strengthen UX competencies and cultivate corporate UX.

This dissertation identifies seven organizational mechanism that influence UX integration in robot development and adoption in a robotics company: commitment and support structures, UX as a skill set, coordination of UX, robot development processes, policies for user involvement, understanding authentic users, and contextual integration. My research shows that segmentation is built into the structure of robotics companies, and that UX integration and adoption in this setting require mutual adjustment and tailored initiatives across individual, team, and organizational levels to achieve lasting impact. Treating "robot UX" as "software UX" is a major barrier preventing robotics companies from fully benefiting from and utilizing robots’ unique affordances in their design.