Placing Objects on Table Is Preferred over Direct Handovers When Users Are Occupied

Service robots commonly deliver objects through direct handovers, assuming users are fully attentive. However, in real-world scenarios, users are often occupied with other tasks. This paper investigates how user attentiveness affects preferences between direct handovers and placing objects on a table. A user study was conducted (n = 25) to evaluate these strategies in scenarios where participants were either occupied (simulated via a typing task) or unoccupied. Results show that placing objects on the table significantly enhances user experience when users were occupied, with higher ratings for satisfaction, perceived safety, confidence in robot ability and intuitiveness of interaction. While direct handovers performed better with unoccupied users compared to occupied users, table placement maintained consistently high performance regardless of user state. All participants preferred table placement when occupied, and the majority preferred it even when unoccupied. These findings suggest table placement should be the default object delivery strategy for service robots, particularly in environments where user attention may vary. We also discuss implications for robot design and propose future directions for adaptive delivery behaviors.