How can we transition from lab to the real world with our HCI and HRI setups?

In this position paper, we present the issues we and others have found when moving from the controlled lab space into the field. We therefore recommend some dos and don'ts for facing the challenge of transferring your research prototype from the lab to the real world. During this transfer, we often encounter crucial disconnects between our envisaged evaluation protocol and real life, often related to differing user expectations outside controlled experimental interactions. The redeployment of complex systems in unfamiliar (and often dissimilar) environments presents additional challenges.

In this paper, we present some example transitions in the fields of mobile HCI and HRI. Based on these experiences, we list the possible roadblocks that other researchers might encounter and provide guidelines and suggestions for dealing with frequently encountered issues. We hope that with this paper we can help stimulate the discussion on the pathway to undertaking scientifically reproducible evaluations in the wild.