{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.020585048754062838, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0021668472372697724, 'mean_word_length': 5.243243243243243, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Implicit Communication Through Social Distancing: Can Social Navigation Communicate Social Norms?

Socially-aware navigation seeks to codify the rules of human-human and human-robot proxemics using formal planning algorithms. However, the rules that define these proxemic systems are highly sensitive to a variety of contextual factors. Recently, human proxemic norms have been heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the guidelines put forth by the CDC and WHO encouraging people to maintain six feet of social distance. In this paper, we present a study of observer perceptions of a robot that not only follows this social distancing norm, but also leverages it to implicitly communicate disapproval of norm-violating behavior. Our results show that people can relate a robot's social navigation behavior to COVID safety protocols, and view robots that navigate in this way as more socially intelligent and safe.