The field of human–drone interaction (HDI) has investigated an increasing number of applications for social drones, all while focusing on the drone’s inherent ability to fly, thus overpassing interaction opportunities, such as a drone in its perched (i.e., non-flying) state. A drone cannot constantly fly and a need for more realistic HDI is needed, therefore, in this exploratory work, we have decoupled a social drone’s flying state from its perched state and investigated user interpretations of its physical rendering. To do so, we designed and developed BiRDe: a Bodily expressIons and Respiration Drone conveying Emotions. BiRDe was designed to render a range of emotional states by modulating its respiratory rate (RR) and changing its body posture using reconfigurable wings and head positions. Following its design, a validation study was conducted. In a laboratory study, participants (\({N}={30}\)) observed and labeled twelve of BiRDe’s emotional behaviors using Valence and Arousal based emotional states. We identified consistent patterns in how BiRDe’s RR, wings, and head had influenced perception in terms of valence, arousal, and willingness to interact. Furthermore, participants interpreted 11 out of the 12 behaviors in line with our initial design intentions. This work demonstrates a drone’s ability to communicate emotions even while perched and offers design implications and future applications.

人机交互 (HDI) 领域已经研究了越来越多的社交无人机应用，同时关注无人机固有的飞行能力，从而超越了交互机会，例如无人机在栖息地（即非飞行状态）。 ） 状态。无人机无法持续飞行，需要更真实的 HDI，因此，在这项探索性工作中，我们将社交无人机的飞行状态与其栖息状态解耦，并研究了用户对其物理渲染的解释。为此，我们设计并开发了 BiRDe：一种传达情感的身体表情和呼吸无人机。BiRDe 旨在通过调节呼吸频率 (RR) 并使用可重新配置的机翼和头部位置改变其身体姿势来呈现一系列情绪状态。设计完成后，进行了验证研究。在一项实验室研究中，参与者 ( \({N}={30}\) ) 使用基于效价和唤醒的情绪状态观察并标记了 BiRDe 的 12 种情绪行为。我们发现 BiRDe 的 RR、翅膀和头部如何影响效价、唤醒和互动意愿方面的感知的一致模式。此外，参与者对 12 种行为中的 11 种的解释符合我们最初的设计意图。这项工作展示了无人机即使在栖息时也能传达情感，并提供了设计意义和未来的应用。