Social Queue: Interactive Robots for Enhancing Public Waiting-in-Line Experience

Waiting in line often leads to boredom and limited social interaction. This paper presents “Social Queue,” a robotic stanchion pole with a responsive tentacle on top that interact with people through three modes of interaction, “Attracting,” “Escaping,” and “Friendly,” designed to initiate and sustain a playful HRI experience in waiting lines. This research aims to explore how the interactive robot affects perceived waiting time and enhances people's enjoyment level in line through a field-based, between-group experiment. The results suggest that the presence of “Social Queue” enhanced people's enjoyment, although it is not evident that the perceived waiting time is shortened.