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Hauptverfasser: Yu, Xinyan, Hoggenmueller, Marius, Lu, Xin, Balci, Ozan, Tomitsch, Martin, Moere, Andrew Vande, Nguyen, Alex Binh Vinh Duc
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.28339
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author Yu, Xinyan
Hoggenmueller, Marius
Lu, Xin
Balci, Ozan
Tomitsch, Martin
Moere, Andrew Vande
Nguyen, Alex Binh Vinh Duc
author_facet Yu, Xinyan
Hoggenmueller, Marius
Lu, Xin
Balci, Ozan
Tomitsch, Martin
Moere, Andrew Vande
Nguyen, Alex Binh Vinh Duc
contents Urban HCI investigates how digital technologies shape human behaviour within the social, spatial, temporal dynamics of public space. Meanwhile, robotic furniture research demonstrates how the purposeful animation of mundane utilitarian elements can influence human behaviour in everyday contexts. Taken together, these strands highlight an untapped opportunity to investigate how animated public furniture could mediate social interaction in urban environments. In this paper, we present the design process and in-the-wild study of mobile robotic benches that reconfigure with a semi-outdoor public space. Our findings show that the gestural performance of the benches manifested three affordances perceived by passersby, they activated engagement as robots, redistributed engagement as spatial elements, and settled engagement as infrastructure. We proposed an Affordance Transition Model (ATM) describing how robotic furniture could proactively facilitate transition between these affordances to engage passersby. Our study bridges robotic furniture and urban HCI to activate human experience with the built environment purposefully.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_28339
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Animated Public Furniture as an Interaction Mediator: Engaging Passersby In-the-Wild with Robotic Benches
Yu, Xinyan
Hoggenmueller, Marius
Lu, Xin
Balci, Ozan
Tomitsch, Martin
Moere, Andrew Vande
Nguyen, Alex Binh Vinh Duc
Human-Computer Interaction
Urban HCI investigates how digital technologies shape human behaviour within the social, spatial, temporal dynamics of public space. Meanwhile, robotic furniture research demonstrates how the purposeful animation of mundane utilitarian elements can influence human behaviour in everyday contexts. Taken together, these strands highlight an untapped opportunity to investigate how animated public furniture could mediate social interaction in urban environments. In this paper, we present the design process and in-the-wild study of mobile robotic benches that reconfigure with a semi-outdoor public space. Our findings show that the gestural performance of the benches manifested three affordances perceived by passersby, they activated engagement as robots, redistributed engagement as spatial elements, and settled engagement as infrastructure. We proposed an Affordance Transition Model (ATM) describing how robotic furniture could proactively facilitate transition between these affordances to engage passersby. Our study bridges robotic furniture and urban HCI to activate human experience with the built environment purposefully.
title Animated Public Furniture as an Interaction Mediator: Engaging Passersby In-the-Wild with Robotic Benches
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.28339