Designing for Robot Wranglers: A Synthesis of Literature and Practice

2026-05-15

AI Summary

As robots become increasingly prevalent in human environments, the role of “robot managers”—individuals responsible for deploying, supervising, and troubleshooting robotic systems—is growing in importance, yet remains poorly supported and ambiguously defined. This study addresses this gap by positioning robot managers as key stakeholders and, through a scoping literature review combined with the authors’ field-based reflective practice, develops a typology of their work activities that reveals the heterogeneity and complexity inherent in their tasks. Building on these insights, the paper proposes a design framework and concrete recommendations tailored to robot managers and the broader service ecosystems in which they operate, aiming to enhance their operational effectiveness and facilitate the seamless integration of robots into real-world settings.

Abstract

Robots are increasingly present in human spaces, such as for conducting deliveries in hospitals, interacting with visitors at museums, and stocking items in warehouses. To ensure the seamless integration of robots into these spaces, a new role in human-robot interaction is emerging - the robot wrangler, namely an individual who is responsible for setting up, overseeing, and troubleshooting the robot. To understand the needs of this stakeholder, we conducted a scoping review that uncovered a typology of robot wrangling across the research literature, and discovered that wrangling is an umbrella term that collapses a highly complex and heterogeneous space of activities, often rendering this labor difficult to characterize and support. To further clarify and understand robot wrangling, we then reflected on our own firsthand and imagined experiences as robot wranglers within our own respective domains. Guided by the scoping review and our reflections, we devise a series of design implications for supporting wranglers directly as individuals and as members of a wider service ecology.

Problem

• robot wrangler
• human-robot interaction
• service robotics
• role definition
• work characterization

Innovation

• robot wrangler
• human-robot interaction
• scoping review
• design implications
• service ecology