TY - GEN
T1 - ATRU
T2 - 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026
AU - Sun, Xiaoqing
AU - Li, Yanheng
AU - Yin, Zhen
AU - Zhao, Xinyan
AU - Ren, Xipei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
PY - 2026/4/13
Y1 - 2026/4/13
N2 - Animal behavior (ethology) has emerged as a promising source of inspiration for social robot design. However, existing efforts have commonly resulted in isolated design instances. Our high-level understanding of the design processes for integrating ethological insights into social robot design and evaluation remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a two-step investigation. First, we developed a stage-based framework through a systematic review, identifying six core design stages along with their descriptive dimensions. Using this framework as an analytic lens, we then analyzed design cases drawn from academic, commercial, and public contexts, deriving stage-specific considerations and actionable strategies to support designers in navigating the process. Our findings provide a conceptual scaffold for operationalizing ethology as a design resource, enabling more systematic, reflective, and transferable practices, while also surfacing new opportunities for future social robot interaction design.
AB - Animal behavior (ethology) has emerged as a promising source of inspiration for social robot design. However, existing efforts have commonly resulted in isolated design instances. Our high-level understanding of the design processes for integrating ethological insights into social robot design and evaluation remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a two-step investigation. First, we developed a stage-based framework through a systematic review, identifying six core design stages along with their descriptive dimensions. Using this framework as an analytic lens, we then analyzed design cases drawn from academic, commercial, and public contexts, deriving stage-specific considerations and actionable strategies to support designers in navigating the process. Our findings provide a conceptual scaffold for operationalizing ethology as a design resource, enabling more systematic, reflective, and transferable practices, while also surfacing new opportunities for future social robot interaction design.
KW - Design framework
KW - Design research
KW - Human-Animal Interaction
KW - Human-Robot Interaction
KW - Systematic review
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038717670
U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3791634
DO - 10.1145/3772318.3791634
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105038717670
T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
BT - CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
A2 - Oliver, Nuria
A2 - Shamma, David A.
A2 - Candello, Heloisa
A2 - Cesar, Pablo
A2 - Lopes, Pedro
A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro
A2 - Kosch, Thomas
A2 - Liao, Vera
A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan
A2 - Artizzu, Valentino
A2 - Draxler, Fiona
A2 - Lopez, Gustavo
A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.
A2 - Tong, Xin
A2 - Toups Dugas, Phoebe O.
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026
ER -