Robotics began as a science fiction creation which has become quite real, first in assembly line operations such as automobile manufacturing, aeroplane construction etc. They have now reached such areas as the Internet, ever-multiplying-medical uses and sophisticated military applications. Control of today's robots is often remote which requires even more advanced computer vision capabilities as well as sensors and interface techniques. Learning has become crucial for modern robotic systems as well. This book brings together leading research in this exciting field.
HumanRobot Interaction (HRI) considers how people can interact with robots in order to enable robots to best interact with people. HRI presents many challenges with solutions requiring a unique combination of skills from many fields, including computer science, artificial intelligence, social sciences, ethology and engineering. We have specifically aimed this work to appeal to such a multi-disciplinary audience. This volume presents new and exciting material from HRI researchers who discuss research at the frontiers of HRI. The chapters address the human aspects of interaction, such as how a robot may understand, provide feedback and act as a social being in interaction with a human, to experimental studies and field implementations of humanrobot collaboration ranging from joint action, robots practically and safely helping people in real world situations, robots helping people via rehabilitation and robots acquiring concepts from communication. This volume reflects current trends in this exciting research field.
Building a conscious robot is a scientific and technological challenge. Debates about the possibility of conscious robots and the related positive outcomes and hazards for human beings are today no longer confined to philosophical circles. Robot consciousness is a research field aimed at a two-part goal: on the one hand, scholars working in robot consciousness take inspiration from biological consciousness to build robots that present forms of experiential and functional consciousness. On the other hand, scholars employ robots as tools to better understand biological consciousness. Thus, part one of the goal concerns the replication of aspects of biological consciousness in robots, by unifying a variety of approaches from AI and robotics, cognitive robotics, epigenetic and affective robotics, situated and embodied robotics, developmental robotics, anticipatory systems, and biomimetic robotics. Part two of the goal is pursued by employing robots to advance and mark progress in the study of consciousness in humans and animals. Notably, neuroscientists involved in the study of consciousness do not exclude the possibility that robots may be conscious. This eBook comprises a collection of thirteen manuscripts and an Editorial published by Frontiers in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, under the section Humanoid Robotics, and Frontiers in Neurorobotics, on the topic “Consciousness in Humanoid Robots.” This compendium aims at collating the most recent theoretical studies, models, and case studies of machine consciousness that take the humanoid robot as a frame of reference. The content in the articles may be applied to many different kinds of robots, and to software agents as well.
Robotics for Pandemics explores various applications of robots for current global issues such as pandemics and how robotic solutions could combat the virus. Key Features Proposes to employ robots to improve the treatment of patients and leverage the load of the medical system Demonstrates the concept of various robotics in healthcare telepresence, rehabilitation, therapy and delivery robots to accommodate social distancing Explores social robot aesthetics and how social interaction and embodied experiences could be useful during social isolation Includes anecdotes from applications used during the COVID-19 pandemic This will be a valuable reference to professionals, academics and researchers in the field of robotics.
Humans are endowed with extraordinary sensory-motor capabilities that enable a successful interaction with and exploration of the environment, as is the case of human manipulation. Understanding and modeling these capabilities represents an important topic not only for neuroscience but also for robotics in a mutual inspiration, both to inform the design and control of artificial systems and, at the same time, to increase knowledge on the biological side. Within this context, synergies -- i.e., goal-directed actions that constrain multi DOFs of the human body and can be defined at the kinematic, muscular, neural level -- have gained increasing attention as a general simplified approach to shape the development of simple and effective artificial devices. The execution of such purposeful sensory-motor primitives on the biological side leverages on the interplay of the sensory-motor control at central and peripheral level, and the interaction of the human body with the external world. This interaction is particularly important considering the new concept of robotic soft manipulation, i.e. soft, adaptable yet robust robotic hands that can deform with the external environment to multiply their grasping and manipulation capabilities. Under this regard, a preeminent role is reserved to touch, being that skin isour primary organ to shape our knowledge of the external world and, hence, to modify it, in interaction with the efferent parts. This Research Topic reports results on the mutual inspiration between neuroscience and robotics, and on how it is possible to translate neuroscientific findings on human manipulation into engineering guidelines for simplified systems able to take full advantage from the interaction and hence exploitation of environmental constraints for task accomplishment and knowledge acquisition.
Designing robots with socio-emotional skills is a challenging research topic still in its infancy. These skills are important for robots to be able to provide not only physical, but also social support to human users, and to engage in and sustain long-term interactions with them in a variety of application domains that require human-robot interaction, including healthcare, education, entertainment, manufacturing, and many others. The availability of commercial robotic platforms and developments in collaborative academic research provide us a positive outlook, however, the capabilities of current social robots are quite limited. The main challenge is understanding the underlying mechanisms of the humans in responding to and interacting with real life situations, and how to model these mechanisms for the embodiment of naturalistic, human-inspired behaviors via robots. To address this challenge successfully requires an understanding of the essential components of social interaction including nonverbal behavioral cues such as interpersonal distance, body position, body posture, arm and hand gestures, head and facial gestures, gaze, silences, vocal outbursts and their dynamics. To create truly intelligent social robots, these nonverbal cues need to be interpreted to form an understanding of the higher level phenomena including first-impression formation, social roles, interpersonal relationships, focus of attention, synchrony, affective states, emotions, and personality, and in turn defining optimal protocols and behaviors to express these phenomena through robotic platforms in an appropriate and timely manner. Achieving this goal requires the fields of psychology, nonverbal behavior, vision, social signal processing, affective computing, and HRI to constantly interact with one another. This Research Topic aims to foster such interactions and collaborations by bringing together the latest works and developments from across a range of research groups and disciplines working in these fields. The Research Topic is a collection of 14 articles that span across five research themes. Three articles co-authored by Terada and Takeuchi, Jung et al., and Kennedy et al. explore the design of “social and affective cues” for robots and investigate their effects on human-robot interaction. Mirnig et al., Bremner et al., and Strait et al. investigate people’s “perceptions of robots” in different settings and scenarios, such as when robots make errors. Articles by Lee et al., Leite et al., and Heath et al. investigate the factors that shape “dialogic interaction with robots,” such as interaction context. The articles under the theme “social and affective therapy” by Rouaix et al., Rudovic et al., and Matsuda et al. report on how individuals from clinical populations, such as those with dementia, autism, and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), interact with robots in therapeutic scenarios. Finally, Miklósi et al. and Durantin et al. offer “new perspectives in human-robot interaction” with a focus on reframing social interaction and human-robot relationships. We are excited about sharing this rich collection with the scientific community and about its contributions to the human-robot interaction literature.
Humanoid robots are highly sophisticated machines equipped with human-like sensory and motor capabilities. Today we are on the verge of a new era of rapid transformations in both science and engineering-one that brings together technological advancements in a way that will accelerate both neuroscience and robotics. Humanoid Robotics and Neuroscienc
