human–robot interaction
In plain wordsThe study of how people and robots communicate, cooperate and share spaces, and of how to design robots that people find safe, understandable, trustworthy and pleasant to live or work with.
The research field concerned with how people and robots communicate, cooperate and share space, and with designing and testing robots for those encounters; it combines roboticsrobotics, n.: The science and engineering of building robots and making them work: designing their bodies, sensors and motors, and writing the software that lets them see, plan and move safely. with human–computer interaction, psychology, design, AI and ethics. Its topics include communication through speech, gaze, gesture and legible motion; shared autonomy and supervisory control; physical human–robot interaction and safe contact (collaborative robotscollaborative robot, n.: A robot designed to work safely right next to people without a safety cage, for example by moving gently and stopping at once if it bumps into someone., impedance controlimpedance control, n.: A way of controlling a robot so that it behaves like a spring and shock absorber when it touches things, giving way gently instead of pushing rigidly., exoskeletons); social robots for education, therapy and elder care; proxemics, or how robots should respect personal space; trust, overtrust and automation biasautomation bias, n.: The habit of trusting a computer's suggestion too much: following it even when it is wrong, or missing problems because the machine did not flag them.; anthropomorphismanthropomorphism, n.: Treating something that isn't human — a pet, a car, a chatbot — as if it had human thoughts, feelings or intentions. AI that talks fluently makes this temptation unusually strong. and the uncanny valleyuncanny valley, n.: The eerie feeling people get from robots, dolls or computer-made faces that look almost, but not quite, human: liking grows with human likeness, then suddenly plunges.; and teaching robots by demonstration or feedback. The field relies heavily on user studies, often small laboratory samples, and has grappled with replicability. Since 2023 large language modelslarge language model, n.: A computer program trained on enormous amounts of text to predict the words that come next. At vast scale, that simple skill lets it chat, answer questions, translate, summarize and write code. have given robots fluent conversation and instruction following, reviving questions about how robots should express uncertainty, ask for help and refuse unsafe requests, and about deception and emotional dependence on companion robots.
The HRI study found people trusted the robot more when it announced where it would move next.
Origin
Preceded by human-factors research on teleoperation and supervisory control (Thomas Sheridan and others, from the 1960s). The IEEE RO-MAN symposium on robot and human communication began in 1992, social robots such as Cynthia Breazeal's Kismet (MIT) followed in the late 1990s, and the first ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction was held in Salt Lake City in 2006.
Related
- collaborative robotcollaborative robot, n.: A robot designed to work safely right next to people without a safety cage, for example by moving gently and stopping at once if it bumps into someone.
- teleoperationteleoperation, n.: Controlling a robot or machine from a distance, with a person steering it in real time using a joystick, a matching 'puppet' arm, a VR headset or a screen.
- uncanny valleyuncanny valley, n.: The eerie feeling people get from robots, dolls or computer-made faces that look almost, but not quite, human: liking grows with human likeness, then suddenly plunges.
- anthropomorphismanthropomorphism, n.: Treating something that isn't human — a pet, a car, a chatbot — as if it had human thoughts, feelings or intentions. AI that talks fluently makes this temptation unusually strong.
- automation biasautomation bias, n.: The habit of trusting a computer's suggestion too much: following it even when it is wrong, or missing problems because the machine did not flag them.
- AI companionAI companion, n.: A chatbot designed to be a friend, partner or confidant rather than a tool: it remembers you, has a personality and keeps up an ongoing relationship.
- Three Laws of RoboticsThree Laws of Robotics, n.: Three rules that science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov built into his fictional robots — do not harm people, obey orders, protect yourself — in stories that mostly show how such simple rules go wrong.
Sources
- Goodrich, M. A. & Schultz, A. C. (2007). Human–robot interaction: A survey. Foundations and Trends in Human–Computer Interaction 1(3), 203–275.
Mentioned in
collaborative robotcollaborative robot, n.: A robot designed to work safely right next to people without a safety cage, for example by moving gently and stopping at once if it bumps into someone., teleoperationteleoperation, n.: Controlling a robot or machine from a distance, with a person steering it in real time using a joystick, a matching 'puppet' arm, a VR headset or a screen., uncanny valleyuncanny valley, n.: The eerie feeling people get from robots, dolls or computer-made faces that look almost, but not quite, human: liking grows with human likeness, then suddenly plunges.