Classroom Robot Proxemics Navigator

Proxemics Controls

Personal-space radius 0.80 m

Repulsion strength 2.0

Max approach speed 0.70 m/s

Live Telemetry

Nearest bystander

— m

Distance to goal

— m

Students helped

Session time

0.0 s

How it works

The robot is a differential-drive vehicle steered by a potential field built from Hall's proxemics zones. Its heading follows the sum of an attractive pull toward the desk it is visiting and a repulsive push away from every other seated student:

F = k_a·(goal − p)/|goal − p|  +  Σ k_r·max(0, (R − d_i)/R)·(p − s_i)/d_i
d_i  = distance to student i,  R = 1.8 × personal-space radius
heading error e = atan2(F) − θ,  ω = clamp(3·e, ±2.5 rad/s)
v = v_max · max(0, cos e) · min(1, dist_to_goal / 0.4 m)

Personal-space radius — the boundary of each bystander's "personal zone" (Hall, 1966: intimate <0.45 m, personal 0.45–1.2 m). Only the desk the robot is currently visiting is exempt from repulsion — that is the one student it is allowed to approach closely.
Repulsion strength — the gain k_r on the social-force term; raise it and the robot swings wider around occupied desks.
Max approach speed — caps the differential-drive linear velocity; the robot always slows itself as it turns (v ∝ cos of heading error) and as it nears the goal, so it never overshoots or spins in place.
Call robot — jumps the queue to a new random desk immediately, the way a raised hand would interrupt a round-robin help queue.

This is the same class of controller (artificial potential fields / social-force navigation) used by real service and companion robots to move through spaces shared with people without crowding anyone who isn't being actively assisted.

Robot Current desk (goal) Seated student

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