Going beyond dyadic (one-to-one) interaction has been increasingly explored in HRI. Yet we lack a comprehensive view on non-dyadic interaction research in HRI. To map out 15 years of works investigating non-dyadic interaction, and thereby identifying the trend of the field and future research areas, we performed a literature review containing all 164 publications (2006-2020) from the HRI conference investigating non-dyadic interaction. Our approach is inspired by the 4C framework, an interaction framework focusing on understanding and categorising different types of interaction between humans and digital artefacts. The 4C framework consists of eight interaction principles for multi-user/multi-artefact interaction categorised into four broader themes. We modified the 4C framework to increase applicability and relevance in the context of non-dyadic human-robot interaction. We identify an increasing tendency towards non-dyadic research (36% in 2020), as well as a focus on simultaneous studies (85% from 2006-2020) over sequential. We also articulate seven interaction principles utilised in non-dyadic HRI and provide specific examples. Last, based on our findings, we discuss several salient points of non-dyadic HRI, the applicability of the modified 4C framework to HRI and potential future topics of interest as well as open-questions for non-dyadic research.

Domestic robots such as vacuum cleaners or lawnmowers are becoming popular consumer products in private homes, but while current HCI research on domestic robots has highlighted for example personalisation, long-term efects, or design guidelines, little attention has been paid to automation. To address this, we conducted a qualitative study with 24 participants in private households using interviews, contextual technology tours, and robot deployment. Through thematic analysis we identifed three themes related to 1) work routines and automation, 2) domestic robot automation and the physical environment, as well as 3) interaction and breakdown intervention. We present an empirical understanding of how task automation using domestic robots can be implemented in the home. Lastly, we discuss our fndings in relation to existing literature and highlight three opportunities for improved task automation using domestic robots for future research.

We investigate how collaboration is understood and configured in industrial workplaces with collaborative robots (cobots). Through a qualitative analysis of 115 case studies of companies using cobots and 14 semi-structured interviews with cobot manufacturers and users, we examine the usages of cobots in the manufacturing industry over the entire temporal spectrum from pre-introduction to completed implementation. By synthesizing diverse stakeholders' perspectives, we present a set of main findings; key roles of a few supportive production workers during the adoption of cobots; a fragmentation of work tasks and the resulting loss of job identity among workers; the disunified meaning of "collaboration" which is under constant development; and the collaborative space and the working rhythms between production workers and cobots. By reconsidering what collaboration means in the workplace with cobots, we propose the concept of bounded collaboration, which means that the anticipated collaboration is manifested in a partial and limited manner within a collaborative technology. Finally, we provide practical suggestions for examining and supporting organizations and users in their adoption of cobots.

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Introducing robots in the workplace entails new practices and configurations at the individual, organizational, and social levels. Prior work has focused on how robots may have an immediate effect on individual employees or tasks rather than collectively influencing employees or the organizations they work for gradually over time. By drawing on fourteen in-situ interviews with six collaborative robot (cobot) operators at a Danish manufacturing company, this paper investigates how cobots in the manufacturing context may engage broader interactions beyond the robot-operator interaction. Our focus includes spatial configurations centering around the cobots, social interactions between employees, and information flow through, within, and outside the production cells. Introducing and implementing cobots in the workplace has social dynamics at its core, which we explore in depth. This paper argues that the design of cobots and the environment around them should accommodate the possibility of more complicated social and organizational changes brought about by these robots. Lastly, we discuss research and design implications for the future of workplaces involving robots.