Toyohashi University of Technology experiment reveals: robots approaching from behind are perceived as faster

A team at Toyohashi University of Technology conducted five experiments using real autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and VR; 92% of participants perceived a robot approaching from behind as faster than one approaching from the front at speeds of 0.5–1.0 m/s. A simulation incorporating this perceptual bias into a navigation model showed that, when overtaking pedestrians from behind, the robot began avoiding 0.57 s earlier than with a conventional model and increased passing distance by up to 0.40 m. The results were published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.