HighLight: Towards an Ambient Robotic Table as a Social Enabler

With smartphones becoming more commonplace in our daily lives, they often take up more time and space than we would like them to. Research shows that using smartphones during social interactions does more harm than good. With this in mind, we set out to create the first prototype of an ambient robotic table that will support social interactions and discourage digital distractions. Through a rapid prototyping process, we present HighLight, a prototype of a socially enabling robotic table that has a smartphone compartment in its center and ambient features reacting in real-time to conversations taking place around the table. We report on our contributions to the research community by investigating the design of an ambient robotic table as a social enabler that encourages social interactions through ambiance, thus exploring future directions of non-disruptive technologies that support social interactions.