Ludic-HRI: Designing Playful Experiences with Robots
Abstract
People are inherently playful, and playfulness matters not only when engaging in actual play but also in all other activities. Based on this, I propose using a ludic design approach as a means to broaden the design space for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). In this paper, I discuss the application of ludic design in HRI and explore how ludic activities can act as a mechanism for achieving new understandings from people during their interactions with robots. Two projects, BubbleBot and Sketching Robot, are presented as cases of designing ludic activities with robots. In my work, I have investigated how people perceived robots by applying exploratory research through design methods in creating the ludic experiences. I am continuously learning from my design and exploring potential areas for designing robots while identifying new values and goals for having robots in our lives.
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Design can learn from educational approaches more generally to design for playful, 'tinkering' engagements, and such 'ludic' design of generative AI systems can build on a long research tradition tracing back to Gaver and colleagues' Drift Table and contexts such as playful encounters with robots.
“In this light, we argue that design can learn from educational approaches more generally to design for playful, 'tinkering' engagements, and note that importantly such 'ludic' design of generative AI systems can build on a long research tradition tracing back to Gaver and colleagues' Drift Table [33] and contexts such as playful encounters with robots [55].”
From Responding to Generative AI Technologies with Research-through-Design: The Ryelands AI Lab as an Exploratory Study (2024) · cites this paper as [55]
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- Authors
- Lee, W.-Y., & Jung, M.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Venue
- Companion of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2020-03-23
- Pages
- 582-584
- OpenAlex
- W3014381089
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Interactive and Immersive Displays
- Keywords
- ludic design, playfulness, human-robot interaction, ludic activities, robot perception
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