Trust and Privacy in Hospital Patient-Robot Communication: A Scenario-Dependent Lean UX Study

This study examines how trust and privacy perceptions vary across hospital scenarios with different levels of Human Robot Interaction (HRI) using a Lean UX research approach. Sixteen participants (24.81 ± 2.23 years, twelve females, four males) engaged with five storyboard-based scenarios: a) appointment support, b) wayfinding, c) visitor assistance, d) emergency evacuation, and e) autonomous logistics, using visual artifacts and modality tokens. Semi-structured interviews captured user expectations, trust, and privacy concerns. Results show that trust is scenario-dependent and strongly influenced by perceived competence, while privacy concerns are most salient in information-sensitive contexts. A clear pattern emerged: users prefer non-verbal communication for navigation and low-interaction tasks, with verbal communication reserved for staff handoffs. Robots that approach users proactively with multimodal cues elicit higher engagement. Participants consistently rejected audible disclosure of sensitive information, favoring device-based or visual communication. The Lean UX approach enabled rapid, low-cost exploration of user expectations, providing actionable, scenario-specific design insights for trustworthy and privacy-aware robot integration in healthcare settings.