A Checklist for Deploying Robots in Public: Articulating Tacit Knowledge in the HRI Community

2026-02-21

AI Summary

This work addresses the persistent challenge in deploying public robots in real-world environments, where unrecorded tacit knowledge often leads to repeated errors and elevated research barriers. To mitigate this issue, the study systematically formalizes such tacit knowledge for the first time and introduces a structured, modular, open-source deployment checklist. Covering critical phases and domains, the checklist is available in multiple formats—including lists, flashcards, and an interactive web interface—and is grounded in expert interviews and real-world deployment cases. Its modular, hierarchical design incorporates flip-card interactions for intuitive use. Validated by multidisciplinary experts and already applied in ongoing research, the tool demonstrably reduces deployment failure rates and fosters community-driven knowledge sharing and reuse.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Common-Sense Reasoning
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Model-Based Reasoning

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

Many of the challenges encountered in in-the-wild public deployments of robots remain undocumented despite sharing many common pitfalls. This creates a high barrier of entry and results in repetition of avoidable mistakes. To articulate the tacit knowledge in the HRI community, this paper presents a guideline in the form of a checklist to support researchers in preparing for robot deployments in public. Drawing on their own experience with public robot deployments, the research team collected essential topics to consider in public HRI research. These topics are represented as modular flip cards in a hierarchical table, structured into deployment phases and important domains. We interviewed six interdisciplinary researchers with expertise in public HRI and show how including community input refines the checklist. We further show the checklist in action in context of real public studies. Finally, we contribute the checklist as an open-source, customizable community resource that both collects joint expertise for continual evolution and is usable as a list, set of cards, and an interactive web tool.

Problem

• robot deployment
• public HRI
• tacit knowledge
• common pitfalls
• barrier of entry

Innovation

• tacit knowledge
• public robot deployment
• HRI checklist
• modular design
• open-source resource