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This work presents a designerly contribution\u2014building a multi-robot task in which the main aim is to enthrall and interest. In this task, the goal is for a human to be drawn to move alongside and participate in a dynamic, expressive robot flock. Towards this aim, the research team created algorithms for robot movements and engaging interaction modes such as gestures and sound. The contributions are as follows: (1) a novel group navigation algorithm involving human and robot agents, (2) a gesture responsive algorithm for real-time, human\u2013robot flocking interaction, (3) a weight mode characterization system for modifying flocking behavior, and (4) a method of encoding a choreographer\u2019s preferences inside a dynamic, adaptive, learned system. An experiment was performed to understand individual human behavior while interacting with the flock under three conditions: weight modes selected by a human choreographer, a learned model, or subset list. Results from the experiment indicated that the perception of the experience was not influenced by the weight mode selection. This work elucidates how differing task aims such as engagement manifest in multi-robot system design and execution, and broadens the domain of multi-robot tasks.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3762675","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,28]],"date-time":"2025-08-28T14:57:43Z","timestamp":1756393063000},"page":"1-27","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Interactive Multi-Robot Flocking with Gesture Responsiveness and Musical Accompaniment"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7233-2659","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catie","family":"Cuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-2302-8697","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kyle","family":"Jeffrey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Stout Agtech, Salinas, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-4165-7775","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kim","family":"Kleiven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Robust AI, San Carlos, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-3523-6285","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adrian","family":"Li-Bell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physical Intelligence, San Francisco, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-2211-7387","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emre","family":"Fisher","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HMI, ASML, San Jose, Pennsylvania, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-8769-7179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matt","family":"Harrison","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Google Inc, Mountain View, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-4428-648X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Benjie","family":"Holson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Robust AI, San Carlos, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6912-1666","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Allison","family":"Okamura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-3294-4659","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matt","family":"Bennice","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NVIDIA Corp., Santa Clara, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","unstructured":"AFTA. 2018. 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