PocketCERO – mobile interfaces for service robots

Service robots are meant to automate tasks formerly performed by humans. They are foreseen to be useful, e.g. to elderly or to people with disabling conditions, or to anyone longing for automation taking over home/office tasks. As service robots are mobile, interfaces must take this mobility into account. Interaction situations include the co-located, the teleoperated, the autonomous, and the telepresent robot. Especially the transitions between these interaction situations need to designed for. We suggest that a personal digital assistant (PDA) is a helpful tool for this. Providing interfaces that can be carried around and that make remote control to automation appliances available adds to the personal communication and information management of mobile devices the potential of having an effect on the physical environment by manipulating physical objects within it. With seamless network coverage it could give a new meaning to “remote control” by allowing to act upon/within the home/office environment while on the move. We describe different interface design prototypes experimented with, present the integration with existing interfaces and the overall system, and report on the early findings during the design phase.