Architectural HRI: Towards a Robotic Paradigm Shift in Human-Building Interaction

TL;DR

This paper discusses a paradigm shift in human-building interaction enabled by robotic actuation, emphasizing interdisciplinary research to address complexity and realize adaptive architectural spaces.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a new architectural HRI paradigm using robotic elements to adapt space, integrating knowledge across multiple disciplines.

Findings

Robotic actuation can enable dynamic, reconfigurable architectural spaces.

Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to address complexity in architectural HRI.

The paradigm shift offers potential for more sustainable and occupant-centered building designs.

Abstract

Recent advances in sensing, communication, interfaces, control, and robotics are expanding Human-Building Interaction (HBI) beyond adaptive building services and facades toward the physical actuation of architectural space. In parallel, research in robotic furniture, swarm robotics, and shape-changing spaces shows that architectural elements can now be robotically augmented to move, reconfigure, and adapt space. We propose that these advances promise a paradigm shift in HBI, in which multiple building layers physically adapt in synchrony to support occupant needs and sustainability goals more holistically. Conversely, we argue that this emerging paradigm also provides an ideal case for transferring HRI knowledge to unconventional robotic morphologies, including the interpretation of the robot as multiple architectural layers or even as a building. However, this research agenda remains challenged by the temporal, spatial, and social complexity of architectural HRI, and by fragmented knowledge across HCI, environmental psychology, cognitive science, and architecture. We therefore call for interdisciplinary research that unifies the why, what, and how of robotic actuation in architectural forms.