Task Matters: Investigating Human Questioning Behavior in Different Household Service for Learning by Asking Robots

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hu, Yuanda, Jiani, Hou, Junyu, Zhang, Ge, Yate, Sun, Xiaohua, Guo, Weiwei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hu, Yuanda
Jiani, Hou
Junyu, Zhang
Ge, Yate
Sun, Xiaohua
Guo, Weiwei
author_facet Hu, Yuanda
Jiani, Hou
Junyu, Zhang
Ge, Yate
Sun, Xiaohua
Guo, Weiwei
contents Learning by Asking (LBA) enables robots to identify knowledge gaps during task execution and acquire the missing information by asking targeted questions. However, different tasks often require different types of questions, and how to adapt questioning strategies accordingly remains underexplored. This paper investigates human questioning behavior in two representative household service tasks: a Goal-Oriented task (refrigerator organization) and a Process-Oriented task (cocktail mixing). Through a human-human study involving 28 participants, we analyze the questions asked using a structured framework that encodes each question along three dimensions: acquired knowledge, cognitive process, and question form. Our results reveal that participants adapt both question types and their temporal ordering based on task structure. Goal-Oriented tasks elicited early inquiries about user preferences, while Process-Oriented tasks led to ongoing, parallel questioning of procedural steps and preferences. These findings offer actionable insights for developing task-sensitive questioning strategies in LBA-enabled robots for more effective and personalized human-robot collaboration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_13916
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Task Matters: Investigating Human Questioning Behavior in Different Household Service for Learning by Asking Robots
Hu, Yuanda
Jiani, Hou
Junyu, Zhang
Ge, Yate
Sun, Xiaohua
Guo, Weiwei
Human-Computer Interaction
Robotics
Learning by Asking (LBA) enables robots to identify knowledge gaps during task execution and acquire the missing information by asking targeted questions. However, different tasks often require different types of questions, and how to adapt questioning strategies accordingly remains underexplored. This paper investigates human questioning behavior in two representative household service tasks: a Goal-Oriented task (refrigerator organization) and a Process-Oriented task (cocktail mixing). Through a human-human study involving 28 participants, we analyze the questions asked using a structured framework that encodes each question along three dimensions: acquired knowledge, cognitive process, and question form. Our results reveal that participants adapt both question types and their temporal ordering based on task structure. Goal-Oriented tasks elicited early inquiries about user preferences, while Process-Oriented tasks led to ongoing, parallel questioning of procedural steps and preferences. These findings offer actionable insights for developing task-sensitive questioning strategies in LBA-enabled robots for more effective and personalized human-robot collaboration.
title Task Matters: Investigating Human Questioning Behavior in Different Household Service for Learning by Asking Robots
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.13916