The evaluation of how (human) individuals perceive robots is a central issue to better understand human–robot interaction (HRI). On this topic, promising proposals have emerged. However, present tools are not able to assess a sufficient part of the composite psychological dimensions involved in the evaluation of HRI. Indeed, the percentage of variance explained is often under the recommended threshold

Society is starting to come up with exciting applications for social robots like butlers, coaches, and waiters. However, these robots face a challenging task: to meet people during a first encounter. This survey explores the literature that contributes to this task. We define a taxonomy based on psychology and sociology models: Kendon’s greeting model and Greenspan’s model of social competence. We

This research develops a conversational robot that stimulates users’ dialogue satisfaction and motivation in non-task-oriented dialogues that include opinion and/or preference exchanges. One way to improve user satisfaction and motivation is by demonstrating the robot’s ability to understand user opinions. In this paper, we explore a method that efficiently obtains the concept of user preferences:

Appropriate human likeness for social robots is said to increase trust and acceptance. Whether this applies to human communication features like dialog initiative needs to be investigated. Dialog initiative could be unacceptable for a robot, depending on the dialog content. Hence, the presented study investigates how a social robot’s proactive verbal and non-verbal communication behavior affects trust

As robots begin to occupy our social spaces, touch will increasingly become part of human–robot interactions. This paper examines the impact of observing a robot touch a human on trust in that robot. In three online studies, observers watched short videos of human–robot interactions and provided a series of judgments about the robot, which either did or did not touch the human on the shoulder. Trust

The growing introduction of robotics in non-industrial applications where the environment is unstructured and changing, has led to the need of development of safer and more intuitive, human–robot interfaces. In such environments, the use of collaborative robots has potential benefits, due to the combination of user experience, knowledge and flexibility with the robot’s accuracy, stiffness and repeatability

The aim of this paper is to analyze a new phenomenon that is emerging in the field of social robotics, which we name as “roboid”. The roboid is a robot that is still at the prototype stage but claims to be fully functioning. We argue that the roboid has been created to handle a new phase between the prototyping and the commercialization of robots. In this intermediate phase, a wide-spread promotional

Many studies have been conducted to find approaches to overcome the Uncanny Valley. However, the focus on the influence of the robot’s appearance leaves a big missing part: the influence of the robot’s nonverbal behaviour. This impedes the complete exploration of the Uncanny Valley. In this study, we explored the Uncanny Valley from the viewpoint of the robot’s nonverbal behaviour in regard to the

Stage plays, theories of theatre, narrative studies, and robotics research can serve to identify, explore, and interrogate theatrical elements that support the effective performance of sociable humanoid robots. Theatre, including its parts of performance, aesthetics, character, and genre, can also reveal features of human–robot interaction key to creating humanoid robots that are likeable rather than

Social robots are being used increasingly across a range of settings, including in the context of therapeutic interactions with children. While research has shown that interaction with live therapy dogs can be calming and enjoyable for children, it is currently unclear whether social robots can produce similar outcomes. In this study, 11–12-year old children completed a questionnaire about their biophilic

Understanding pedestrian proxemic utility and trust will help autonomous vehicles to plan and control interactions with pedestrians more safely and efficiently. When pedestrians cross the road in front of human-driven vehicles, the two agents use knowledge of each other’s preferences to negotiate and to determine who will yield to the other. Autonomous vehicles will require similar understandings,

Nowadays, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought artificial intelligence to the forefront, and more and more intelligent robots begin to be used in the hospitality industry. In this study, the application of service humanoid robots in the hospitality industry is investigated based on Cardiff Metropolitan University EUREKA Robotics Lab’s robot as reported by Lab (in Eureka robotics lab, 2017,

In this paper, the problem of the robust tracking for two-arm condenser cleaning crawler-type mobile manipulators (CCCMM) with delayed angle-velocity uncertainties is original investigated. The two-arm condenser cleaning crawler-type mobile manipulators are composed of a crawler-type mobile platform and two-arm industrial manipulators.The uncertainty is nonlinear time-varying and does not require a

Humor is a pervasive feature of everyday social interactions that might be leveraged to improve human–robot interactions (HRI). Our goal is to evaluate how the use of humor can improve HRI and enhance the user’s perception of the robot, as well as to derive implications for future research and development of humorous robots. We conducted a systematic search of 7 digital libraries relevant in the areas

Psychological variables of a person (e.g., cognitive abilities, personality traits, emotional states, and preferences) are valuable information that can be utilized by social robots to offer personalized human–robot interaction. These variables are often latent and inferred indirectly from a third-person perspective based on an individual’s behavioral manifestations (e.g., facial emotion expressions)

A growing shortfall exists between the number of older individuals who require healthcare support and the number of qualified healthcare professionals who can provide this. Robots offer the potential to provide healthcare support to patients both at home and in healthcare settings. However, in order for robots to be successfully implemented in these environments, they need to behave in ways that are

Robotic agents designed to assist people across a variety of social and service settings are becoming increasingly prevalent across the world. Here we synthesise two decades of empirical evidence from human–robot interaction (HRI) research to focus on cultural influences on expectations towards and responses to social robots, as well as the utility of robots displaying culturally specific social cues

In this paper, we develop a robotic telepresence system to provide remote users with immersive embodiment in local environments through a custom-designed mobile robot. The proposed telepresence system uses a virtual reality (VR) device to connect a remote user to the robot. Three dimensional visual data from a RGB-D camera are rendered for real-time stereoscopic display in the VR device, which forms

Around the world there has been growing interest in the use of technologies to connect students who are absent from school because of a health or medical condition to their teachers and peers in school. In this article findings are presented from a scoping review which sought to map the impacts of telepresence robots (TPR) for students who miss school because of illness. In Australia, TPRs are being

Several computational models of emotions have been proposed to enable artificial agents to generate emotions of their own. However, there are barriers that limit the full capabilities of these models. One issue is the need to enable emotion generation in autonomous agents in wide range of interaction situations instead of designing specific scenarios. Additionally, it is not practically easy task to

Nowadays, humanoid soccer serves as a benchmark for artificial intelligence and robotic problems. The factors such as the kicking speed and the number of kicks by robot soccer players are the most significant aims that the participating teams are pursued in the RoboCup 3D Soccer Simulation League. The proposed method presents a kicking strategy during walking for humanoid soccer robots. Achieving an

Technology is giving rise to artificial erotic agents, which we call erobots (erôs + bot). Erobots, such as virtual or augmented partners, erotic chatbots, and sex robots, increasingly expose humans to the possibility of intimacy and sexuality with artificial agents. Their advent has sparked academic and public debates: some denounce their risks (e.g., promotion of harmful sociosexual norms), while

According to the world health organization, cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death worldwide. Cardiac rehabilitation programmes are dedicated to approach this problem and reduce mortality rates due to the presence of a second event. However, the adherence and motivation of patients to assist to these programmes is not the expected. Therefore, this paper presents the incorporation of a SAR

Although companion-type robots are already commercially available, little interest has been taken in identifying reasons for inter-individual differences in their acceptance. Elders’ age-related perceptions of both their own self (self-image) and of the general older robot user (user image) could play a relevant role in this context. Since little is known to date about elders’ companion-type robot

This article provides a systematic review of research articles applying Kansei / Affective Engineering methodologies for the development of Social and Service Robots. We describe relevant concepts and main types of Kansei Engineering methodologies to assist new researchers and practitioners interested in the area. We also summarize the main objectives and findings of eleven peer-reviewed research articles

Social robots are designed to facilitate interaction with humans through “social” behavior. As literature in the field of human–robot interaction shows, this sometimes leads to “bad” behavior towards the robot or “abuse” of the robot. Virtue ethics offers a helpful way to capture the intuition that although nobody is harmed when a robot is “mistreated”, there is still something wrong with this kind

Recent studies have revealed the key importance of modelling personality in robots to improve interaction quality by empowering them with social-intelligence capabilities. Most research relies on verbal and non-verbal features related to personality traits that are highly context-dependent. Hence, analysing how humans behave in a given context is crucial to evaluate which of those social cues are effective

In this paper, we develop a Bayesian inference model for the degree of human trust in multiple mobile robots. A linear model for robot performance in navigation and perception is first devised. We then propose a computational trust model for the human multi-robot team based on a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN). In the trust DBN, the robot performance is the network input, the human trust feedback to

The way that we move often carries emotional meaning that the people with whom we interact are adept at detecting. Humans treat the movements of robots similarly, attributing the same emotions when the robots move in ways that are analogous to emotionally-charged human movements. However, this HRI work has primarily been done on humanoid or animal-shaped robots. In this paper, we examined whether this

How people behave towards others relies, to a large extent, on the prior attitudes that they hold towards them. In Human–Robot Interactions, individual attitudes towards robots have mostly been investigated via explicit reports that can be biased by various conscious processes. In the present study, we introduce an implicit measure of attitudes towards robots. The task utilizes the measure of semantic

Deficit in imitation skills is one of the core symptoms of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In this study, we have tried to look closer at the body gesture imitation performance of 20 participants with autism, i.e. ASD group, and 20 typically developing subjects, i.e. TD group, in a set of robot-child and human-child gross imitation tasks. The results of manual scoring by two specialists

This position paper proposes a novel approach to the ethical design of social robots. We coin the term “Virtuous Robotics” to describe Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) designed to help humans reach a higher level of moral development. Our approach contrasts with mainstream approaches to robot design inspired by the other normative theories, Consequentialism and Deontology. In the paper we theoretically

Social robots are developed to provide companionship and assistance in the daily life of the children, older, and disable people but also have great potential as educational technology by facilitating learning. In these application areas, a social robot can take the role of a coach by training and assisting individuals also in cognitive tasks. Since a robot’s interaction style affects users’ trust

Trust in automation, or more recently trust in autonomy, has received extensive research attention in the past three decades. The majority of prior literature adopted a “snapshot” view of trust and typically evaluated trust through questionnaires administered at the end of an experiment. This “snapshot” view, however, does not acknowledge that trust is a dynamic variable that can strengthen or decay

Physical exercise has many physical, psychological and social health benefits leading to improved life quality. This paper presents a robotic system developed as a personal coach for older adults aiming to motivate older adults to participate in physical activities. The robot instructs the participants, demonstrates the exercises and provides real-time corrective and positive feedback according to

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present limitations in social communication and social interaction at home, in school, and in community contexts. Teaching and intervention programmes that use humanoid robots have been developing rapidly to improve the social functioning of children with ASD. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a social robot to enhance the social skills of

Trust miscalibration issues, represented by undertrust and overtrust, hinder the interaction between drivers and self-driving vehicles. A modern challenge for automotive engineers is to avoid these trust miscalibration issues through the development of techniques for measuring drivers’ trust in the automated driving system during real-time applications execution. One possible approach for measuring

Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are increasingly used in healthcare and other settings to improve self-management and provide companionship. Their ability to form close relationships with people is important for enhancing effectiveness and engagement. Several studies have looked at enhancing relationships with ECAs through design features focused on behaviours, appearance, or language. However

Robots that express human’s social norms, like empathy, are perceived as more friendly, understanding, and caring. However, appropriate human-like empathic behaviors cannot be defined in advance, instead, they must be learned through daily interaction with humans in different situations. Additionally, to learn and apply the correct behaviors, robots must be able to perceive and understand the affective

Imitation of human movement by robots is an important area of research to create expressive systems that are able to interact with humans in social settings. One lens through which imitation may be investigated is that of character archetypes, commonly found in human story-telling. Classical ballet, a form of story-telling through movement, makes extensive use of such archetypes. This paper reviews

This paper concerns human-inspired robotic eye-hand coordination algorithms using custom built robotic eyes that were interfaced with a Baxter robot. Eye movement was programmed anthropomorphically based on previously reported research on human eye-hand coordination during grasped object transportation. Robotic eye tests were first performed on a component level where accurate position and temporal

This project implements an assistive robotic platform in a mathematics high school class to support the professor’s teaching process while analyzing its performance by using a gamification approach and the Octalysis framework. The results obtained from this study evaluated both the platform usability and the general class perception from the students and the professors involved in the experimentation

One of the major factors that affect the acceptance of robots in Human-Robot Interaction applications is the type of voice with which they interact with humans. The robot’s voice can be used to express empathy, which is an affective response of the robot to the human user. In this study, the aim is to find out if social robots with empathetic voice are acceptable for users in healthcare applications

Both robots and humans can behave in ways that engender positive and negative evaluations of their behaviors and associated responsibility. However, extant scholarship on the link between agent evaluations and valenced behavior has generally treated moral behavior as a monolithic phenomenon and largely focused on moral deviations. In contrast, contemporary moral psychology increasingly considers moral

The “Computers are social actors” (CASA) assumption (Nass and Moon in J Soc Issues 56:81–103, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00153) states that humans apply social norms and expectations to technical devices. One such norm is to distort one’s own response in a socially desirable direction during interviews. However, findings for such an effect are mixed in the literature. Therefore, a new

The unceasing aging of the population is leading to new problems in developed countries. Robots represent an opportunity to extend the period of independent living of the elderly as well as to ameliorate their economic burden and social problems. We present a new social robot, Mini, specifically designed to assist and accompany the elderly in their daily life either at home or in a nursing facility

Social robots are gradually being integrated into the educational system. However, in extracurricular settings, such as summer day camps, educational robots are usually incorporated for the purpose of teaching STEM-related material. We study the effects of a novel, easy-to-use and scalable robotic platform on integration of social robots into summer camps. To this end, we compare the ability of two

Examining complex cognitive-motor performance in humanoid robots and humans can inform their interactions in a social context of team dynamics. Namely, the understanding of human cognitive-motor control and learning mechanisms can inform human motor behavior and also the development of intelligent controllers for robots when interacting with people. While prior humans and humanoid robot studies mainly

Exoskeleton is a wearable power-assisted supporting device that is used to enhance human motion functions such as walking. This research work is an attempt to provide the paraplegic patients with a more stable human-like hands-free walking function. An exoskeleton model for lower extremities, called a Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Robot (LEE Robot), is developed to feature an automatic posture adjustment

The role and relevance of speech synthesis and speech recognition in social robotics is addressed in this paper. To increase the generality of this study, the interaction of a human being with one and two robots when executing tasks was considered. By making use of these scenarios, a state-of-the-art speech synthesizer was compared with non-linguistic utterances (1) from the human preference and (2)

Automation is not a new phenomenon, and questions about its effects have long followed its advances. More than a half-century ago, US President Lyndon B. Johnson established a national commission to examine the impact of technology on the economy, declaring that automation “can be the ally of our prosperity if we will just look ahead”. In this paper, our premise is that we are at a technological inflection

Socially Assistive Robots are promising in their potential to promote and support mental health in children. There is a growing number of studies investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of robot interventions in supporting children’s mental wellbeing. Although preliminary evidence suggests that Socially Assistive Robots may have the potential to help address concerns such as stress and anxiety

To more efficiently enhance the patient transfer skills of nursing students, this study aims to integrate a transfer skills evaluation system and a robot patient. The evaluation parameters, namely, the translational acceleration of the waist, rotational speed of the chest, and joint angles of the shoulder, hip, and knee, were selected on the basis of the pre-experimental results obtained with a simulated

This paper is an extension to our work presented in Ben Slimane and Tagina (in: Nguyen, Pimenidis, Khan and Trawiński (eds) Computational collective intelligence, Springer, Cham, 2018). It deals with the the problem of partitioning the space in an even way between a number of autonomous mobile robots. In our previous work we proposed a distributed one-phased partitioning method where each robot constructs

Human–robot interaction has extended its application horizon to simplify how human beings interact with each other through a remotely controlled telepresence robot. The fast growth of communication technologies such as 4G and 5G has elevated the potential to establish stable audio–video-data transmission. However, human–robot physical interactions are still challenging regarding maneuverability, controllability

Social signals, such as changes in gaze direction, are essential cues to predict others’ mental states and behaviors (i.e., mentalizing). Studies show that humans can mentalize with nonhuman agents when they perceive a mind in them (i.e., mind perception). Robots that physically and/or behaviorally resemble humans likely trigger mind perception, which enhances the relevance of social cues and improves

Previous research suggests that the increased attribution of agency to robots may be linked to negative attitudes toward robots. If robots are truly expected to assume various roles in our social environment, it is necessary to further explore how increasing agency, for example through increasing levels of autonomy, affects attitudes toward them. This study investigates the role of perceived control

As the field of social robotics has been dynamically growing and expanding over various areas of research and application, in which robots can be of assistance and companionship for humans, this paper offers a different perspective on a role that social robots can also play, namely the role of informing us about flexibility of human mechanisms of social cognition. The paper focuses on studies in which

The rapid development of artificial intelligence brings with it the increasing likelihood of ubiquitous interaction between humans and robots. A significant contribution to studying human–robot interactions (HRI) comes from experimental studies, whereby humans and robots interact in controlled conditions and researchers observe and measure the reactions of humans (and robots). The use of experiments

This paper explores the expressive capabilities of a swarm of miniature mobile robots within the context of inter-robot interactions and their mapping to the so-called fundamental emotions. In particular, we investigate how motion asnd shape descriptors that are psychologically associated with different emotions can be incorporated into different swarm behaviors for the purpose of artistic expositions