A service (social) robot is defined as the Internet of Things (IoT) consisting of a physical robot body that connects to one or more Cloud services to facilitate human-machine interaction activities to enhance the functionality of a traditional robot. Many studies found that anthropomorphic designs in robots resulted in greater user engagement. Humanoid service robots usually behave like natural social interaction partners for human users, with emotional features such as speech, gestures, and eye-gaze, referring to the users’ cultural and social background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, service robots play a much more critical role in helping to safeguard people in many countries nowadays. This paper gives an overview of the research issues from technical and social-technical perspectives, especially in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), emotional expression, and cybersecurity issues, with a case study of gamification and service robots
