Demonstrating the Potential of Interactive Product Packaging for Enriching Human-Robot Interaction

While social robots are increasingly introduced into domestic settings, few have explored the utility of the robots' packaging. Here we highlight the potential of product packaging in human-robot interaction to facilitate, expand, and enrich user experience with the robot. We present a social robot's box as interactive product packaging, designed to be reused as a "home'' for the robot. Through co-design sessions with children, an narrative-driven and socially engaging box was developed to support initial interactions between the child and the robot. Our findings emphasize the importance of packaging design to produce positive outcomes towards successful human-robot interaction.