Human-driven multi-robot design process for social interactions with children on complex environments

Robots have been traditionally in operation away from people, for instance in industrial environments. More recently, there has been a trend for bringing robots to market for helping people. In particular, children constitute a challenging group for robot interaction, due to their curiosity and energy, as well as safety concerns. This paper describes the construction process of an external structure for a fleet of mobile robots designed for interactions with children in a hospital environment. We address several challenges on the design process, critical for the robots to be able to operate safely, while interacting socially, among a group of children with specific needs.