Human-Humanoid Interaction: Overview

The field of social robotics is burgeoning and driven by the idea that one day social robots will enter the home to take on a wide range of assistive roles; from household chores to caring for older people or our children. Many of these tasks will require that robots not only share the same spaces with people and work in their close proximity, but that they physically and socially interact with them to achieve a common goal, be it physically, socially, cognitively, or emotionally. This includes robots interacting with people who might be vulnerable and unable to easily adapt to changes in their environment. Such demands pose a range of challenges, from functional over social to ethical.

The current section of the Springer Handbook for Humanoids sets out to address a wide range of challenges that need to be tackled if we want to develop humanoid robots that can interact safely and responsibly with humans. In addition, questions such as whether interactive robots should look and behave in human-like ways will be addressed. Contributions are highly interdisciplinary in nature, ranging from engineering over psychology and medicine to philosophy and ethics. Each chapter provides a different angle and insight into state-of-the-art social robotics with focus on humanoids, representing its authors’ particular expertise, and highlighting the current challenges and future directions of research as seen from their personal perspectives.