Physically Interactive Robogames: Definition and design guidelines

• We define Physically Interactive RoboGames (PIRG).
• We define guidelines to design PIRG.
• We introduce Physically Interactive, Competitive RoboGames (PICoRG).
• We apply the guidelines to define a PICoRG (Jedi Trainer).
• We present the evaluation of Jedi Trainer by a set of final users.

There is evidence that people expect to be able to play games with autonomous robots, so that robogames could be one of the next killer applications for Robotics. Physically Interactive RoboGames (PIRG) is a new application field where autonomous robots are involved in games requiring physical interaction with people. Since research in this field is taking its first steps, definitions and design guidelines are still largely missing.In this paper, a definition for PIRG is proposed, together with guidelines for their design. Physically Interactive, Competitive RoboGames (PICoRG) are also introduced. They are a particular kind of PIRG where human players are involved in a challenging, highly interactive and competitive game activity with autonomous robots.The development process of a PICoRG, Jedi Trainer, is presented to show a practical application of the proposed guidelines. The game has been successfully played in different unstructured environments, by the general public; feedback is reported and analyzed.