Design Space of Multipurpose Daily Worn Snake-Shaped Robotic Appendages

Abstract

Multipurpose Supernumerary Robotic Limbs (SRLs) are an emerging form of wearable robots that can augment our daily physical and digital interactions. Due to their genericity, designing this form of wearables encompass a number of interweaved challenges within multiple research domains. Therefore, my dissertation's main objective is to contribute with a design space that enables designing and evaluating multipurpose SRLs. I carry out a series of case studies to derive needed design dimensions, with emphasis on designing for multipurpose use, social acceptance, and cohesive user experiences. The design space would structure this domain, enabling future researchers to generate and evaluate new case studies, as well as identifying and addressing challenges to advance this emerging research area.