FORSocialRobots

Bavarian Research Association FORSocialRobots - Social skills for automated systems and robots

Social Adaptive and Proactive Interaction

The sub-project aims to develop the next generation of robots that can not only perform repetitive tasks but also interact with humans in social situations. This includes both the industrial sector, where collaborative robots are used, and the service sector, such as care facilities and private households. There is an urgent need to increase people's trust and acceptance of these social robots, as previous studies have shown that only a minority of people find them trustworthy and acceptable.

Therefore, a central goal of the sub-project is to research and improve the socio-technical interface to increase trust and acceptance in social robots. This requires increased adaptability and proactivity of the robots to better adapt to the needs, goals, and preferences of users and also to autonomously respond to future situations. Current robots are often inflexible and reactive, leading to unnatural interaction and undermining people's trust.

By combining adaptability and proactivity, the aim is for the robots to be able to adjust their behavior appropriately to the user and the specific situation. It is important to maintain a balanced level of autonomy to ensure pleasant and non-intrusive behavior. Therefore, the main focus is on researching the technical implementation of this socially adaptive proactivity and examining its impact on the relationship between humans and robots.

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