Physical appearance drives design: Insights from co-designing a citizens’ initiative robot with high school students

Physical embodiment of a robot is a key factor in determining how humans perceive its social role and capabilities. We conducted a pilot design course for three high school students to study the codesign process of robots for societal participation. Our observations from the co-design sessions indicate that when co-designing on an existing robot platform with people with no prior design experience, the physical appearance of the robot can become the driving factor behind the design choices, which presents the challenge of limiting creativity. We propose experience goals and experiential methods such as bodystorming for overcoming the challenge.