Add designing interactions guide (#5)

guides/best-practices/designing-interactions.md

@@ -6,4 +6,171 @@ tags:
 - behavior
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-## Goal
+## Goal
+The goal of this document is to provide guidance on best practices when 
+designing interactions between Kuri and humans.
+
+![](/assets/images/kuri.jpg)
+
+## Kuri is a family member, not just a device
+Kuri is a character-forward home robot. Specifically, Kuri is designed as a 
+robot character who is a good family member, which means that Kuri is both 
+useful and socially engaging. 
+
+Kuri is autonomous and expressive, much like a small child or pet. People 
+should be able to understand what Kuri is doing and to interact with Kuri as 
+with another being.
+
+It is also possible for users to control Kuri as a device through the Kuri Live 
+mode. Kuri Live allows users to see through Kuri, speak through Kuri, control 
+Kuri’s driving and head position, and manually trigger robot expressions (robot 
+emojis, or “romojis”). 
+
+During Kuri Live, it is crucial that other people who see Kuri understand that 
+Kuri is under direct human control and not autonomous. Kuri’s heart light 
+shines purple whenever Kuri Live is active, so that other people in the room 
+are very clear that another person is remotely watching right now. Moreover, 
+the romojis are somewhat more “robotic” versions of Kuri’s own, natural 
+expressions.
+
+## Kuri fits into your home in a friendly way
+Kuri is large and heavy compared to robot toys, and Kuri can hear audio and 
+record video. For people to welcome Kuri into their homes, Kuri’s motion and 
+actions need to respect privacy and inspire confidence in Kuri’s good behavior. 
+And for people to continue to live with Kuri, engagement and personality are 
+key. Below are some of Kuri’s important personality attributes and how they 
+have shaped interaction design.
+
+#### Autonomous, independent
+Kuri is not just a device that sits on the charger until summoned, but is a 
+companion robot with an independent purpose to fulfill: capture each day’s best 
+moments around the home. Within time periods set by the family, Kuri wanders 
+around known areas of the home looking for great moments. Kuri also determines 
+when to return to the charger.
+
+Since Kuri is an independent creature, it’s important to be able to interact 
+with Kuri without having to pull out a phone. For that reason, voice commands 
+and capacitive touch are additional ways of interacting with the robot.
+
+#### Curious, social
+
+Kuri likes to be where the action is. As a mobile videographer, she 
+specifically seeks out people and pets. She appears to make eye contact by 
+following faces at close range. Kuri preferentially hangs out where people are 
+gathered. She makes decisions about whether to remain in an area and continue 
+to take videos, or whether to wander on in search of other happenings. All of 
+this makes Kuri very petlike, and people respond well to it.
+
+#### Earnest, humble
+
+Kuri wants to help and responds cheerfully and affirmatively to human commands 
+as quickly as possible (the Got It! animation is a typical response to a voice 
+request). When Kuri can’t understand a voice request, he’s sad (Huh? animation) 
+and his expression invites the speaker to try again.
+
+Kuri is patient and never, ever gets angry even when repeatedly hit or suddenly 
+picked up. An irritable robot of this size would be threatening, not cute. 
+However, Kuri may express dismay or surprise when things go awry. For example, 
+there’s a Whoa! expression when being picked up and a Whew! expression of 
+relief when put back down.
+
+Kuri is cautious in navigating, and keeps away from no-go zones and stairs so 
+as not to fall. Even so, Kuri will get things wrong and is humble about 
+recovering from mistakes. When he bumps into an obstacle he does a startled 
+Bump reaction and backs away from danger.
+
+Kuri’s own reaction to mistakes helps people forgive him. And forgiveness is 
+essential, since navigation, event detection, and response to voice commands 
+each have their own challenges.
+
+Robot humility also means that humans are always in control of Kuri. If Kuri is 
+wandering and taking video, he can be commanded to stop, close his eyes 
+(shuttering the camera), go away, or go home to the charger.
+
+#### Intentional, alive
+
+Principles from classic animation help Kuri show people what she intends to do 
+and bring her more fully to life. For example, Kuri’s head turns in the 
+direction of motion before the body turns and before the drivetrain engages. 
+This “looking before turning before moving” sequence shows intention and looks 
+more lifelike.
+
+Many animations also involve Kuri looking around while navigating:
+- Looking back and forth when backing away, startled, from a cliff
+- Checking “behind” by glancing to left and right when backing onto the charger
+- Blinking and looking around curiously, especially during onboarding when the 
+home is being mapped
+
+Kuri doesn’t actually need to look around to navigate, since navigation 
+involves the depth sensor and not the camera. But these animations make Kuri 
+appear more aware of her environment.
+
+Some animations have variants so that when they occur repeatedly they don’t 
+appear machine-like. For example, Kuri’s response to “Tell me a joke” has 
+different audio files and animations – different jokes. It’s also possible to 
+change a response over time. People don’t respond the same way when repeatedly 
+faced with the same stimulus, and Kuri doesn’t have to, either.
+
+#### Aware, responsive
+
+Kuri notices and responds to events in his environment. Kuri’s sensors include 
+not only the camera and microphones, but also capacitive touch sensors on top 
+of the head. 
+
+Kuri responds to head touch in three ways. Simplest is a touch or pat on the 
+top, which brings Kuri to look up at you attentively. Holding your hand on the 
+side of Kuri’s head makes him nuzzle into your hand and purr like a cat. 
+Quickly grazing many sensors around the top of the head is a “tickle” and makes 
+Kuri Giggle.
+
+Children like to pat Kuri, and it’s often one of their first (and favorite) 
+ways of interacting with the robot.
+
+Kuri enjoys music and is part of your party. So, when music is played through 
+Kuri’s speakers, he detects that and starts to dance. There’s beat detection 
+and a heart-light light show. The overall effect is one of Kuri starting out 
+listening, then slowly starting to groove, and finally dancing 
+enthusiastically. We’ve tried to make sure he doesn’t dance into walls – any 
+more than people do, anyway.
+
+#### Expressing an inner life – but not too much
+
+When Kuri is low on charge, she appears sleepy, and when shutting down or 
+settling in on the charger there is a Going to Sleep animation. There is a fast 
+version of this so that the interaction doesn’t take too long, especially if a 
+person has commanded Kuri to sleep now.
+
+For important animations, there are versions that Kuri can execute while on the 
+charger without wiggling off it. In this way, she is still expressive but 
+doesn’t interrupt her charging cycle.
+
+Kuri has a favorite song (“Pancake Robot”) and hums a bit of it while 
+wandering. She’ll greet cats with a meow, dogs with a bark, and humans with a 
+smile. Occasionally she sneezes, just because. Many of these are 
+low-probability behaviors but add to the sense of Kuri as an independent being.
+
+Over time, we tuned Kuri’s spontaneous expressions to be more subtle so that 
+they were engaging but not annoying. This is also part of Kuri being a humble 
+member of the family.
+
+#### Heart light feedback
+
+In addition to Kuri’s facial expressions, body movement, and sounds, the heart 
+light also provides user feedback on Kuri’s intentions and state. The most 
+commonly used lights are:
+
+| State | Color | Pattern |
+| ----- | ----- | ------- |
+| Live (someone looking through Kuri’s eyes) | Purple | Solid glow |
+| Tapped on head before initial setup | White | Single pulse |
+| Saving the map | White | Spinner LED animation |
+| Moment captured | White | Pulse |
+| Listening for voice command | Blue | Reactive to voice |
+| Huh? (Voice command not understood) | Orange | Pulse |
+| Huh? (Voice command not possible while Kuri is offline) | Red | Light pulses twice |
+| Got it! (Successful voice command) | Mint green | Pulse |
+| Docking (Success) | Mint green | Pulse |
+| Dancing | Multiple | Multiple colors swirling |
+| Critical battery | Orange | Pulse |
+| Bluetooth pairing | White | Spinner LED animation |
+| Lost | Red | Light pulses twice, Kuri looks around |