Co-designing Explainable Robots: A Participatory Design Approach for HRI

Many research works currently focus on algorithms designed to generate explanations and then evaluate their effect on user trust and understanding of robots. Even though some projects attempt to design understandable interfaces, they usually serve as extra features for solutions that already exist. In this paper, we suggest a user-centric approach to design explainable robot systems from the very beginning. In particular, we provide a participatory design approach that places emphasis on the cooperative design of an understandable and intuitive interface between the user and the robot system. We suggest turning the attention to the robot’s functionality and autonomous behaviours development after this interface has been established. We exemplify how to apply the proposed framework in a geriatric unit at an intermediate care centre.