How Does Delegation in Social Interaction Evolve Over Time? Navigation with a Robot for Blind People

TL;DR

This study investigates how blind individuals' delegation and interaction strategies with a navigation robot evolve over repeated real-world museum visits, revealing increasing user control preferences and strategy refinement.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into how user-robot collaboration perceptions and strategies change with repeated use in assistive navigation for the blind.

Findings

Participants refined their reliance strategies over time.

Users developed clearer preferences for robot assistance.

Interaction strategies became more personalized with experience.

Abstract

Autonomy and independent navigation are vital to daily life but remain challenging for individuals with blindness. Robotic systems can enhance mobility and confidence by providing intelligent navigation assistance. However, fully autonomous systems may reduce users' sense of control, even when they wish to remain actively involved. Although collaboration between user and robot has been recognized as important, little is known about how perceptions of this relationship change with repeated use. We present a repeated exposure study with six blind participants who interacted with a navigation-assistive robot in a real-world museum. Participants completed tasks such as navigating crowds, approaching lines, and encountering obstacles. Findings show that participants refined their strategies over time, developing clearer preferences about when to rely on the robot versus act independently. This work provides insights into how strategies and preferences evolve with repeated interaction and offers design implications for robots that adapt to user needs over time.