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Main Authors: Porfirio, David, McDermott, Ian, Chen, Hsin-Mei, Satake, Satoru, Kanda, Takayuki, LaToza, Thomas D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15892
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author Porfirio, David
McDermott, Ian
Chen, Hsin-Mei
Satake, Satoru
Kanda, Takayuki
LaToza, Thomas D.
author_facet Porfirio, David
McDermott, Ian
Chen, Hsin-Mei
Satake, Satoru
Kanda, Takayuki
LaToza, Thomas D.
contents Robots are increasingly present in human spaces, such as for conducting deliveries in hospitals, interacting with visitors at museums, and stocking items in warehouses. To ensure the seamless integration of robots into these spaces, a new role in human-robot interaction is emerging - the robot wrangler, namely an individual who is responsible for setting up, overseeing, and troubleshooting the robot. To understand the needs of this stakeholder, we conducted a scoping review that uncovered a typology of robot wrangling across the research literature, and discovered that wrangling is an umbrella term that collapses a highly complex and heterogeneous space of activities, often rendering this labor difficult to characterize and support. To further clarify and understand robot wrangling, we then reflected on our own firsthand and imagined experiences as robot wranglers within our own respective domains. Guided by the scoping review and our reflections, we devise a series of design implications for supporting wranglers directly as individuals and as members of a wider service ecology.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_15892
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Designing for Robot Wranglers: A Synthesis of Literature and Practice
Porfirio, David
McDermott, Ian
Chen, Hsin-Mei
Satake, Satoru
Kanda, Takayuki
LaToza, Thomas D.
Robotics
Human-Computer Interaction
Robots are increasingly present in human spaces, such as for conducting deliveries in hospitals, interacting with visitors at museums, and stocking items in warehouses. To ensure the seamless integration of robots into these spaces, a new role in human-robot interaction is emerging - the robot wrangler, namely an individual who is responsible for setting up, overseeing, and troubleshooting the robot. To understand the needs of this stakeholder, we conducted a scoping review that uncovered a typology of robot wrangling across the research literature, and discovered that wrangling is an umbrella term that collapses a highly complex and heterogeneous space of activities, often rendering this labor difficult to characterize and support. To further clarify and understand robot wrangling, we then reflected on our own firsthand and imagined experiences as robot wranglers within our own respective domains. Guided by the scoping review and our reflections, we devise a series of design implications for supporting wranglers directly as individuals and as members of a wider service ecology.
title Designing for Robot Wranglers: A Synthesis of Literature and Practice
topic Robotics
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15892