I Am the Robot: A VR Based Wizard of Oz System for the Humanoid Robot Pepper
Paper in proceeding, 2026
This late-breaking report presents a Wizard of Oz control system that uses virtual reality equipment to operate the humanoid robot Pepper. The system enables control by mirroring the operator’s movement within the physical space, including body and head rotation, and arm movements directly onto the robot. The system was evaluated in a study setup with two participant groups: users and operators. Results showed that the system was effective in simulating natural robot behaviour, while being intuitive and engaging.
pepper
virtual reality
wizard of oz
human-robot interaction
Author
Sofia Thunberg
University of Gothenburg
Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction Design and Software Engineering
Uppsala University
Aris Alissandrakis
University of Gothenburg
Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction Design and Software Engineering
Timmy Bolinder
Student at Chalmers
Melker Forslund
Student at Chalmers
Elias Lycke
Student at Chalmers
Tobias Pettersson
Student at Chalmers
Marcus Saméus
Student at Chalmers
Robin Åsberg
Student at Chalmers
Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction Hri Companion 2026
10-14
9798400723216 (ISBN)
21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI Companion 2026
Edinburgh, United Kingdom,
Edinburgh, United Kingdom,
Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Robotics and automation
Human Computer Interaction
DOI
10.1145/3776734.3794345