Investigating social drones for recreational running through co-design

Journal article, 2026

Introduction – Human-drone interaction is an emerging field investigating ways to extend the conventionally passive role of drones with autonomous, socially interactive functionalities. Drones offer unique opportunities for applications, such as exercise support, due to their mobility and flexibility. While previous research has studied drones for, e.g., pacing, gait analysis, and accessibility in running contexts, we propose that an equally crucial part of such applications is the socially interactive role of the drone.
Methods – We present a study in two phases. In the first phase, we conducted a preliminary study that informed the design of a co-design workshop through eight semi-structured interviews exploring drone support for runners. In the second phase, we designed and conducted a co-design workshop with five experienced recreational runners to reflect on the practical and ethical challenges of using drones and to envision ways in which drones could support and interact with runners in future scenarios. The collected materials were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and annotated visual analysis.
Results – The results present five low-fidelity social drone prototypes, including participants’ reflections tied to each prototype. Furthermore, we present analytical themes that demonstrate the necessity of extending and re-framing approaches to designing social drones.
Discussion – The paper makes three key contributions. First, we offer an approach to co-designing social drones that focus on eliciting the experiences of participants and manifesting those in concrete, embodied design concepts. Second, we validate the existing Design Space for Social Drones framework through a concrete application domain. Our validation shows that the dimensions can be further detailed, and that non-user perspectives are a potentially crucial extension. Third, we present three recommendations that encapsulate concerns for further designs of social drones.