Human-Robot Interaction — An Introduction

This is the virtual home of the Human-Robot Interaction – An Introduction textbook by Christoph Bartneck, Tony Belpaeme, Friederike Eyssel, Takayuki Kanda, Merel Keijsers, Selma Šabanović. It is being published by Cambridge University Press and the 2nd Edition is now available. You can order the printed book on Amazon.com. The Kindle Edition is available as well. The book is available for free as PDF files below.

Summary

The role of robots in society keeps expanding and diversifying, bringing with it a host of issues surrounding the relationship between robots and humans. This introduction to human–robot interaction (HRI) by leading researchers in this developing field is the first to provide a broad overview of the multidisciplinary topics central to modern HRI research. Written for students and researchers from robotics, artificial intelligence, psychology, sociology, and design, it presents the basics of how robots work, how to design them, and how to evaluate their performance. Self-contained chapters discuss a wide range of topics, including speech and language, nonverbal communication, and processing emotions, plus an array of applications and the ethical issues surrounding them. This revised and expanded second edition includes a new chapter on how people perceive robots, coverage of recent developments in robotic hardware, software, and artificial intelligence, and exercises for readers to test their knowledge.

  • Minimal prerequisites and modular presentation enable courses to be tailored to fit students with different backgrounds
  • Exercises, discussion questions, and relevant literature contribute to deeper learning in and outside the classroom
  • Many color illustrations showcase the history and most recent developments in human–robot interaction

Please cite this book as:

Bartneck, C., Belpaeme, T., Eyssel, F., Kanda, T., Keijsers, M., & Sabanovic, S. (2024). Human-Robot Interaction – An Introduction. (2nd edition) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Non-English Versions

The Carl Hanser Verlag publishes the German version entitled “Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion – Eine Einführung“.

Educational Uptake

This book has been adopted by the following universities for teaching courses. Please contact us if you would like your course to be added to this list:

  • University of Waterloo, Canada, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Social Robotics – Foundations, Technology and Applications of Human-Centered Robotics
  • National Taipei University in Taiwan, Taiwan, Hooman Samani, M5226 Advanced Robotics
  • Ontario Tech University, Candad, Patrick C. K. Hung, BUSI4590U Topics in Technology Management & INFR 4599U Service Robots Innovation for Commerce
  • The Colorado School of Mines, USA, Tom Williams, CSCI 436 / 536: Human-Robot Interaction
  • Heriot-Watt University, UK, Lynne Baillie, F21HR Human Robot Interaction
  • Uppsala University, Sweden, Filip Malmberg, UU-61611 Social Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction
  • Skövde University, Sweden, MSc Human-Robot Interaction program
  • Indiana University Bloomington, USA, Selma Sabanovic, INFO-I 440 Human-Robot Interaction
  • Ghent University, Belgium, Tony Belpaeme, E019370A Robotics module
  • University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Christoph Bartneck, Professional Certificate in Human-Robot Interaction
  • Bielefeld University, Germany, Frederike Eyssel, 270037 Sozialpsychologische Aspekte der Mensch-Maschine Interaktion
  • Kyoto University, Japan, Takayuki Kanda, 3218000 Human-Robot Interaction (ヒューマンロボットインタラクション)
  • Oakland University, USA, Wing-Yue Geoffrey Louie, ECE4900/5900: Human-Robot Interaction
  • Carnegie Mellon University Africa, Rwanda, David Vernon, 18-799-L3 Human-Robot Interaction.
  • Hanyang University, South Korea, Casey Bennett, CSE4055 Intelligent Robot Control
  • John Cabot University Rome, Italy, Merel Keijsers, An introduction to social robotics
  • Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, Walter Teixeira Lima Junior,  1681 – Artificial Cognitive Systems and Social Robotics
  • University of Florence, Italy, Laura Fiorini B032726 (B061) – Human-Robot Interaction, Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering, Curriculum in Biomedical Robotics and Engineering for Neuroscience and Rehabilitation.
  • National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Hsiu-Ping Yueh, Psy5306 Social Robotics
  • National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Hsiu-Ping Yueh, Psy5314 Seminar in Social Robotics
  • National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Hsiu-Ping Yueh, Psy5365 Seminar in Designing Persuasive Social Robotics
  • Boise State University, USA, Casey Kennington, CS 497/597 Human-Robot Interaction

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Human-Robot Interaction — An Introduction

About the authors:

Christoph Bartneck, Tony Belpaeme, Friederike Eyssel, Takayuki Kanda, Merel Keijsers, Selma Šabanović
From left: Takayuki Kanda, Selma Šabanović, Merel Keijsers, Tony Belpaeme, Christoph Bartneck, Friederike Eyssel

Christoph Bartneck

Christoph Bartneck is a professor in the department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He has a background in Industrial Design and Human-Computer Interaction, and his projects and studies have been published in leading journals, newspapers, and conferences. His interests lie in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction, Science and Technology Studies, and Visual Design. More specifically, he focuses on the effect of anthropomorphism on human-robot interaction. As a secondary research interest he works on projects in the area of sport technology and the critical review on scientific processes and policies. In the field of Design Christoph investigates the history of product design, tessellations and photography.

Tony Belpaeme

Tony Belpaeme is a professor at Ghent University, Belgium, and prior to that was a professor of robotics and cognitive systems at Plymouth University, United Kingdom. He received his PhD in artificial intelligence from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Starting from the premise that intelligence is rooted in social interaction, Tony and his research team try to further the artificial intelligence of social robots. This approach leads to a spectrum of results, from theoretical insights to practical applications. He is involved in large-scale projects studying how robots can be used to support children in education, and he studies how brief interactions with robots can become long-term interactions and how robots can be used in therapy.

Friederike Eyssel

Friederike Eyssel Friederike Eyssel is a professor of applied social psychology and gender research at the Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology at Bielefeld University, Germany. Friederike is interested in various research topics ranging from social robotics, social agents, and ambient intelligence to attitude change, prejudice reduction, and the sexual objectification of women. Crossing disciplines, Friederike has published vastly in the fields of social psychology, HAI, and social robotics.

Takayuki Kanda

Takayuki Kanda is a professor in informatics at Kyoto University, Japan. He is also the visiting group leader at Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Interaction Science Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan. He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering, his master’s degree in engineering, and his PhD in computer science from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 1998, 2000, and 2003, respectively. He is one of the starting members of the Communication Robots project at the ATR in Kyoto. He has developed a communication robot, Robovie, and applied it in daily situations, such as peer tutoring at an elementary school and as a museum exhibit guide. His research interests include HAI, interactive humanoid robots, and field trials.

Merel Keijsers

Merel Keijsers Merel Keijsers is an assistant professor in psychology at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Her training is in social psychology and statistics, and she completed her PhD on the topic of robot bullying at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. For her PhD, she studied what conscious and subconscious psychological processes drive people to abuse and bully robots; recently, she has gained an interest in how robots influence the way humans view themselves. More generally, having a background in social psychology, she is mainly interested in the similarities and differences in how people deal with robots versus other humans.

Selma Šabanović

Selma Šabanović is a professor of informatics and cognitive science at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she founded and directs the R-House Human-Robot Interaction Lab. Her research combines studies of the design, use, and consequences of socially interactive and assistive robots in different social and cultural contexts, including healthcare institutions, user homes, and various countries. She also engages in the critical study of the societal meaning and potential effects of developing and implementing robots in everyday contexts. She received her PhD in science and technology studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2007, with a dissertation on the cross-cultural study of social robotics in Japan and the United States. She served as the editor in chief of the journal ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction from 2017 to 2023.