When a robot orients visitors to an exhibit. Referential practices and interactional dynamics in real world HRI

A basic task for robots interacting with humans consists in guiding their focus of attention. Existing guidelines for a robot´s multimodal deixis are primarily focused on the speaker (talk-gesture-coordination, handshape). Conducting a field trial with a museum guide robot, we tested these individualistic referential strategies in the dynamic conditions of real-world HRI and found that their success ranges between 27% and 95%. Qualitative video-based micro-analysis revealed that the users experienced problems when they were not facing the robot at the moment of the deictic gesture. Also the importance of the robot´s head orientation became evident. Implications are drawn as design guidelines for an interactional account of modeling referential strategies for HRI.