Research
What we're learning
Original research, frameworks, and critical perspectives on the human side of robotics — published for the people designing what comes next.
Research pillar
The machine deploys. The question is whether the people around it were ready.
Most robotics research describes what robots do. Ours describes what happens to the humans around them — the signals they miss, the failures they absorb, the interactions they were never designed for.
The Research pillar runs as a system: a framework, an instrument, and the editorial interpretation that connects both to practice. Each layer feeds the next.
01 — Framework
RXD — Robot Experience Design
RXD defines six observable dimensions for evaluating the human side of consumer robotics. It was developed by synthesizing existing human-robot interaction research with structured analysis of consumer robotics deployed in logistics, healthcare, and hospitality contexts — environments where robots increasingly operate alongside non-engineering staff without dedicated HRI support.
It distills a literature base that has, until now, lacked a unified framework accessible to practitioners outside engineering. RXD is not a rating scale. It is a structured lens for identifying where interaction design is succeeding, where it is failing, and what those failure modes are costing the deployment.
The six dimensions
01
Signal Clarity
Whether the robot's intent and state are readable to the humans nearby.
02
Spatial Legibility
What the robot communicates about the space it occupies, and whether that signal matches the environment.
03
Perceived Presence
How the robot's voice, form, aesthetic, and emotional register are read by the people around it.
04
Failure Transparency
Whether the robot can communicate why it has stopped, and to whom.
05
Interaction Fit
The gap between where the robot was designed to operate and where it actually does.
06
Recovery Design
What the robot does, and what it communicates, when the intended interaction fails.
Cite as: Posso, M. (2026). Robot Experience Design (RXD): A framework for evaluating the human side of consumer robotics (White Paper v2.0). The Robot Age. therobotage.com/rxd. CC BY-NC 4.0.
02 — Instrument
RES — Robot Experience Score
RXD applied. A scoring instrument built for field use.
The Robot Experience Score translates the six RXD dimensions into a repeatable rubric. A trained evaluator can produce a dimensional profile for any consumer robot — drawing on public deployment footage, manufacturer materials, reviewer documentation, and direct observation where available.
The score surfaces where interaction design is functioning and where it is creating friction for the humans working alongside the machine. It is designed for practitioners, not engineers — no sensor data, no proprietary access, no technical background required.
The Robot Experience Report
Field studies coming soon: Scored. Observed. Documented.
03 — Field Signals
Editorial essays from the human side of robotics.
Where the framework ends and the analysis begins. Field Signals examines deployment patterns, design decisions, and the operational consequences that follow.