Roomba: Human-Robot Interaction
Time: Spring 2017
Role: UX Researcher
Tools: Google Suite
Skills: Usability Testing, Survey Design, Data Analysis
SUMMARY
During Spring of 2017 i spent three months designing and implementing a comprehensive user study via in-person usability testing and survey. This was done to understand the relationship between the gender of a Roomba’s (cleaning robot) name and how capabley users believed it could clean.
Overview
I owned all stages of the process from hypothesis to presentation. 4 participants were recruited (2 male and 2 female) with the goal of understanding how each gender was effected. Participants were given minimal instruction on how to complete the usability tasks. Detailed notes and video were taken during the study. Specifically my responsibilities included:
- crafting the research plan and designing the study
- conducted a literature review to inform hypothesis
- conducting the in-person pilot session and taking contextual notes
- analyzing the qualitative user feedback and comments
- analyzing qualitative user survey results
- developing the research report and presenting to peers
The Process
Literature Review
To gain a better grasp of what was already known on the topic i reviewed previous research. From these papers i gained information on the gendering of names as well gender stereotypes in various contexts: human-human, human-robot, and human-technology usage. This knowledge helped inform my hypothesis and study design.
Usability Testing
Participants were put through usability testing to gain qualitative data on their treatment of the device as well as to deepen their connection to it to strengthen the survey data. To ensure all data was captured detailed notes and video were taken of each trial. Video also served as good examples in the proceeding presentation.
Participants were asked to run through tasks with the robot: turn it on, make a mess for it to clean, keep it in a certain area, turn it off, and clean the dust pan. In an effort to keep these tasks natural and possibly provoke common usability issues no instruction was given to participants on how to accomplish these tasks. To reinforce the name of the robot i referred to it by name as well as adding a nameplate to the top of it.
Survey
After completing the usability testing participants were given a Google Forms survey. Information from the literature review informed the survey questions. Questions were aimed at understanding the participants views of the robots gender, cleaning performance, trustworthiness, and likeliness to purchase the robot. Participants answers gave valuable quantitative data for analysis.
Presentation of Results
Research was presented to a group of peers and a board of professors. I wanted to give the full scope of the study, possible avenues for future research, and possible implications to current products. A major marketing implication for cleaning robots being naming. The most impactful results for design of future cleaning robots is as follows:
- Users apply the robot gender based on its name
- Female named robots are rated better at cleaning
- Users are more patient with female named robots
Takeaways
This was my first experience working on a research focused UX project. It was also my first time conducting academic research on my own. I gained lots of knowledge on study design, setting up and conducting user testing (survey design, participant recruitment, usability testing, etc.), and data analysis. If i were to have continued this research past the pilot stage i would like to have increased the participant pool and the depth of tests. In the end i was able to grow as a researcher and designer. I plan on taking what i learned and apply that to conduct usability tests involving new/improved products or features at a company
