From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human-robot interaction

Amidst the fourth industrial revolution, social robots are resolutely moving from fiction to reality. With sophisticated artificial agents becoming ever more ubiquitous in daily life, researchers across different fields are grappling with the questions concerning how humans perceive and interact with these agents and the extent to which the human brain incorporates intelligent machines into our social milieu. This theme issue surveys and discusses the latest findings, current challenges and future directions in neuroscience- and psychology-inspired human–robot interaction (HRI). Critical questions are explored from a transdisciplinary perspective centred around four core topics in HRI: technical solutions for HRI, development and learning for HRI, robots as a tool to study social cognition, and moral and ethical implications of HRI. Integrating findings from diverse but complementary research fields, including social and cognitive neurosciences, psychology, artificial intelligence and robotics, the contributions showcase ways in which research from disciplines spanning biological sciences, social sciences and technology deepen our understanding of the potential and limits of robotic agents in human social life

The impact of peoples' personal dispositions and personalities on their trust of robots in an emergency scenario

Humans should be able to trust that they can safely interact with their home companion robot. However, robots can exhibit occasional mechanical, programming or functional errors. We hypothesise that the severity of the consequences and the timing of a robot's different types of erroneous behaviours during an interaction may have different impacts on users' attitudes towards a domestic robot. First, we investigated human users' perceptions of the severity of various categories of potential errors that are likely to be exhibited by a domestic robot. Second, we used an interactive storyboard to evaluate participants' degree of trust in the robot after it performed tasks either correctly, or with 'small' or 'big' errors. Finally, we analysed the correlation between participants' responses regarding their personality, predisposition to trust other humans, their perceptions of robots, and their interaction with the robot. We conclude that there is correlation between the magnitude of an error performed by a robot and the corresponding loss of trust by the human towards the robot. Moreover we observed that some traits of participants' personalities (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and their disposition of trusting other humans (benevolence) significantly increased their tendency to trust a robot more during an emergency scenario.Peer reviewe

Extending perspective taking to nonhuman animals and artificial entities

Perspective taking can have positive effects in a range of intergroup contexts. In two experiments, we tested whether these effects generalize to two yet-to-be-studied nonhuman groups: animals and intelligent artificial entities. We found no overall effects of either taking the perspective of a farmed pig or an artificial entity on moral attitudes, compared to instructions to stay objective and a neutral condition. However, in both studies, mediation analysis indicated that perspective taking positively affected moral attitudes via empathic concern and self-other overlap, supporting two mechanisms well-established in the literature. The lack of overall effects may be partly explained by positive effects of staying objective on moral attitudes that offset the positive effects of perspective taking via empathic concern and self-other overlap. These findings suggest that perspective taking functions differently in the context of nonhuman groups relative to typical intergroup contexts. We consider this an important area for future research

Future touch in industry: exploring sociotechnical imaginaries of tactile (tele)robots

This paper explores sociotechnical imaginaries for industrial robotics. It is motivated by the prospect of promoting human-centred industrial futures. Investigating the tactility of labour through a critical social perspective the research attends to the future of tactile (tele)robots and elaborates on the concepts of pedagogic, collaborative and superhuman touch. These concepts are offered as starting points to foster productive dialogues between social scientists, roboticists, environmentalists, policy makers, industrial leaders and labourers (e.g. union representatives). This paper is framed through literature and ethnographic fieldwork that contextualises and maps the dominant sociotechnical imaginaries for a future touch in industry, identifying the role of a comparative-competitive frame in sustaining a splintering of the imaginary towards utopic and dystopic extremes. Against this, the paper draws on interviews with leading roboticists to chart alternative futures where humans and robots may work together as collaborators, not competitors

Dehumanization of outgroup members and cross-group interactions

Subtle and blatant dehumanization exacerbates negative intergroup relations while intergroup contact ameliorates them. An emerging body of research has started to examine the link between intergroup contact and dehumanization as a potential method for promoting harmony and social cohesion between different social groups. In this article, we examine how direct and indirect contact strategies can reduce both subtle and blatant dehumanization and how humanization can increase willingness for contact with outgroup members. This suggests a range of ways in which exploring contact and dehumanization might contribute to improved intergroup relations. Last, we explore how enhanced empathy, trust, prejudice, and inclusive norms toward outgroups, along with lower anxiety, explain the link between contact and dehumanization

A systematic review of attitudes, anxiety, acceptance, and trust towards social robots

As social robots become more common, there is a need to understand how people perceive and interact with such technology. This systematic review seeks to estimate people’s attitudes toward, trust in, anxiety associated with, and acceptance of social robots; as well as factors that are associated with these beliefs. Ninety-seven studies were identified with a combined sample of over 13,000 participants and a standardized score was computed for each in order to represent the valence (positive, negative, or neutral) and magnitude (on a scale from 1 to − 1) of people’s beliefs about robots. Potential moderating factors such as the robots’ domain of application and design, the type of exposure to the robot, and the characteristics of potential users were also investigated. The findings suggest that people generally have positive attitudes towards social robots and are willing to interact with them. This finding may challenge some of the existing doubt surrounding the adoption of robotics in social domains of application but more research is needed to fully understand the factors that influence attitudes

Imagined intergroup contact promotes support for human rights through increased humanization

Dehumanization concerns the denial of others' human uniqueness (animalistic dehumanization) or human nature (mechanistic dehumanization). Imagined intergroup contact has been suggested to be an effective technique for reducing dehumanization. We examined whether this intervention might primarily work by increasing the type of humanness the group specifically lacks. Study 1 revealed that after imagining contact with an animalized out-group (i.e., Gypsy people), participants attributed higher levels of human uniqueness. Study 2 replicated this finding, eliminating improved intergroup attitudes as an alternative explanation. Further, it demonstrated that imagined contact increased support for human rights, and that this was mediated by increased adscription of human uniqueness. Study 3 confirmed previous evidence by showing that after imagining contact with a mechanized out-group (i.e., Japanese people), participants attributed higher levels of human nature that explains support for human rights. Overall, imagined contact specifically works at increasing the type of humanness the group is typically denied

Young people’s technological images of the future: implications for science and technology education

Modern technology has had and continues to have various impacts on societies and human life in general. While technology in some ways defines the 'digital age' of today, discourses of 'technological progress' may dominate discussions of tomorrow. Conceptions of technology and futures seem to be intertwined, as technology has been predicted by experts to lead us anywhere between utopia and extinction within as little as a century. Understandably, hopes and fears regarding technology may also dominate images of the future for our current generation of young people. Meanwhile, global trends in science and technology education have increasingly emphasised goals such as agency, anticipation and active citizenship. As one's agency is connected to one's future perceptions, young people's views of technological change are highly relevant to these educational goals. However, students' images of technological futures have not yet been used to inform the development of science and technology education. We set out to address this issue by investigating 58 secondary school students' essays describing a typical day in 2035 or 2040, focusing on technological surroundings. Qualitative content analysis showed that students' images of the future feature technological changes ranging from improved everyday devices to large-scale technologisation. A variety of effects was attributed to technology, relating to convenience, environment, employment, privacy, general societal progress and more. Technology was discussed both in positive and negative terms, as imagined technological futures were problematised to differing extents. We conclude by discussing the potential implications of the results for the development of future-oriented science and technology education.Peer reviewe