Social Robot Interaction and HRI

Human-robot interaction research examines how people perceive, relate to, and behave alongside machines designed to operate in social roles — from therapy companions for older adults to developmental partners for children learning language and emotion. Because humans readily attribute intentions, feelings, and personality to robots even when they know better, understanding anthropomorphism has become central to designing systems that are both genuinely useful and psychologically safe. A persistent open question is where exactly the line falls between a robot's social presence feeling reassuring and it crossing into the discomfort known as the uncanny valley, a threshold that shifts with age, culture, and familiarity. Researchers are also working to determine whether the emotional and cognitive benefits observed in human-robot companionship are durable over time or dependent on novelty — a distinction with real consequences for deploying these systems in eldercare and clinical settings.

Works

40,201

Total citations

381,585

Keywords

Socially Assistive RoboticsHuman-Robot InteractionAnthropomorphismElderly CareEmotion PerceptionCognitive Developmental Robotics