Abstract
Drones show great potential to support sports activities such as running, cycling, and rowing. Yet, little is known about the way athletes
perceive and experience the presence of a drone in their sporting context, also in relation to the placement of drones around them.
Earlier works in designing human-drone-interactions (HDI) provide design tactics to develop drones tailored to runners. However, the
spaces where a drone can be placed to interact with the runner is likely to be different from what is found in more commonly studied
static scenarios of drone proxemics. We present a study that explores the positions of a drone around a runner, and their perception of
it, in an outdoor running setting. We positioned the drone at thirty locations around them and conducted a quantitative study of
perceived safety with the drone and comfort in tracking the drone as well as facets of usability of a drone in this scenario such as
audibility of the speaker, loudness of the drone noise, and preferred angle of image capture. Our results indicate that runners prefer
drones to be placed in their field of view and within a horizontal distance of 8–12m, and prefer angles of images capture that show their
posture along the frontal and sagittal planes. This study is unique in the way it investigates user experience and drone positioning in a
naturalistic setting. It builds upon existing work in which some of these aspects were investigated under lab conditions. With our
approach, we were also able to generate a segmented interaction space that researchers could utilize to make informed decisions when
positioning drones for studies in a running context
perceive and experience the presence of a drone in their sporting context, also in relation to the placement of drones around them.
Earlier works in designing human-drone-interactions (HDI) provide design tactics to develop drones tailored to runners. However, the
spaces where a drone can be placed to interact with the runner is likely to be different from what is found in more commonly studied
static scenarios of drone proxemics. We present a study that explores the positions of a drone around a runner, and their perception of
it, in an outdoor running setting. We positioned the drone at thirty locations around them and conducted a quantitative study of
perceived safety with the drone and comfort in tracking the drone as well as facets of usability of a drone in this scenario such as
audibility of the speaker, loudness of the drone noise, and preferred angle of image capture. Our results indicate that runners prefer
drones to be placed in their field of view and within a horizontal distance of 8–12m, and prefer angles of images capture that show their
posture along the frontal and sagittal planes. This study is unique in the way it investigates user experience and drone positioning in a
naturalistic setting. It builds upon existing work in which some of these aspects were investigated under lab conditions. With our
approach, we were also able to generate a segmented interaction space that researchers could utilize to make informed decisions when
positioning drones for studies in a running context
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 9 Oct 2022 |
| Event | Social Drones for Health and Well-being Workshop at NORDICHI 2022 - Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Duration: 9 Oct 2022 → 9 Oct 2022 |
Workshop
| Workshop | Social Drones for Health and Well-being Workshop at NORDICHI 2022 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Denmark |
| City | Aarhus |
| Period | 9/10/22 → 9/10/22 |