Set the Stage: Enabling Storytelling with Multiple Robots through Roleplaying Metaphors

TL;DR

This paper introduces roleplaying metaphors with three distinct roles to enhance gesture-based control of multiple robots, fostering more expressive, intuitive, and diverse interactions beyond rigid mappings.

Contribution

It presents a novel roleplaying framework with three roles that guide gesture design and interaction styles for multi-robot systems, expanding creative possibilities.

Findings

Roleplaying metaphors enable richer robot interactions.

Narrative framing guides gesture set creation.

The approach enhances expressiveness and intuitiveness.

Abstract

Gestures are an expressive input modality for controlling multiple robots, but their use is often limited by rigid mappings and recognition constraints. To move beyond these limitations, we propose roleplaying metaphors as a scaffold for designing richer interactions. By introducing three roles: Director, Puppeteer, and Wizard, we demonstrate how narrative framing can guide the creation of diverse gesture sets and interaction styles. These roles enable a variety of scenarios, showing how roleplay can unlock new possibilities for multi-robot systems. Our approach emphasizes creativity, expressiveness, and intuitiveness as key elements for future human-robot interaction design.