JoyTilt : Beyond GUI App Design for Embodied Experience of Controlling a Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Abstract: Domestic IoT appliances like smart speakers, smart locks and robot vacuum cleaners are usually connected through smartphone apps to provide additional functionality and remote control. Although smartphones have many different sensors and actuators, these apps provide a primarily graphical user interface with these appliances. To explore a more somatically engaging experience the prototype JoyTilt was designed, developed and tested with users. JoyTilt enables its user to control a robot vacuum cleaner like a toy car by tilting their phone in the direction they want it to go. This study found that the participants had their gaze focused on the robotic vacuum cleaner while controlling it and that the participants had both positive and negative bodily experiences with JoyTilt. Interviews with the participants provide suggestions for balancing control of robot vacuum cleaners and keeping the robot’s autonomy using JoyTilt. In this study the aesthetics of the material, choice of materials and choice of interaction model come together in the design of JoyTilt to shape the human-robot relationship. Lastly, the thesis highlights the values of further considering the bodily experience when designing apps.