"I was Confused by It; It was Confused by Me:" Exploring the Experiences of People with Visual Impairments around Mobile Service Robots

TL;DR

This study explores the challenges faced by people with visual impairments when interacting with mobile service robots, highlighting accessibility, safety, and privacy issues, and proposing design considerations for improvement.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into PVI's experiences with robots and identifies specific accessibility and safety barriers, offering guidance for designing more inclusive robots.

Findings

Lack of accessible feedback hampers control and tracking for PVI

Encountering robots as bystanders causes confusion and fear

Design considerations can improve accessibility and safety

Abstract

Mobile service robots have become increasingly ubiquitous. However, these robots can pose potential accessibility issues and safety concerns to people with visual impairments (PVI). We sought to explore the challenges faced by PVI around mainstream mobile service robots and identify their needs. Seventeen PVI were interviewed about their experiences with three emerging robots: vacuum robots, delivery robots, and drones. We comprehensively investigated PVI's robot experiences by considering their different roles around robots -- direct users and bystanders. Our study highlighted participants' challenges and concerns about the accessibility, safety, and privacy issues around mobile service robots. We found that the lack of accessible feedback made it difficult for PVI to precisely control, locate, and track the status of the robots. Moreover, encountering mobile robots as bystanders confused and even scared the participants, presenting safety and privacy barriers. We further distilled design considerations for more accessible and safe robots for PVI.