Publikation
Investigating the Effect of LED Signals and Emotional Displays in Human-Robot Shared Workspaces
Maria Ibrahim; Alap Kshirsagar; Dorothea Koert; Jan Peters
In: Computing Research Repository eprint Journal (CoRR), Vol. abs/2509.14748, Pages 1-8, arXiv, 2025.
Zusammenfassung
Effective communication is essential for safety
and efficiency in human-robot collaboration, particularly in
shared workspaces. This paper investigates the impact of
nonverbal communication on human-robot interaction (HRI) by
integrating reactive light signals and emotional displays into a
robotic system. We equipped a Franka Emika Panda robot with
an LED strip on its end effector and an animated facial display
on a tablet to convey movement intent through colour-coded
signals and facial expressions. We conducted a human-robot
collaboration experiment with 18 participants, evaluating three
conditions: LED signals alone, LED signals with reactive emo-
tional displays, and LED signals with pre-emptive emotional
displays. We collected data through questionnaires and position
tracking to assess anticipation of potential collisions, perceived
clarity of communication, and task performance. The results
indicate that while emotional displays increased the perceived
interactivity of the robot, they did not significantly improve
collision anticipation, communication clarity, or task efficiency
compared to LED signals alone. These findings suggest that
while emotional cues can enhance user engagement, their
impact on task performance in shared workspaces is limited.