The International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR) is an annual meeting that brings together academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects related to the introduction of robots into everyday life. HFR collects contributions on current developments of a new generation of human-friendly robots, i.e., safe and dependable machines, operating in the close vicinity to humans or directly interacting with them in a wide range of domains. The papers contained in the book describe the newest and most original achievements in the field of human-robot-interaction coming from the work and ideas of young researchers. The contributions cover a wide range of topics related to human-robot interaction, both physical and cognitive, including theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies.

This book presents recent methodological, technological, and experimental developments concerning human-friendly robots and their introduction into everyday life. The book contains a selection of 10 papers presented at the 13th edition of the International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR). The International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR) is an annual meeting that brings together academic scientists, researchers, and research scholars to present their latest, original findings on all aspects concerning human-friendly robotics where safe and dependable machines operate in close proximity to humans or directly interact with them in a wide range of contexts. The 13th edition was organized by the University of Innsbruck and took place in Innsbruck, Austria. The book is primarily intended for robotics researchers and postgraduates which are doing or willing to do research in fields related to human-friendly robotics, including human–robot interaction, robot control, robot learning, and intuitive interfaces. .

This book covers a wide range of topics related to human–robot interaction, both physical and cognitive, including theories, methodologies, technologies, and empirical and experimental studies. The International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR) is an annual meeting that brings together academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to present their latest, original findings on all aspects concerning the introduction of robots into everyday life. The growing need to automate daily tasks, combined with new robot technologies, is driving the development of human-friendly robots, i.e., safe and dependable machines that operate in close proximity to humans or directly interact with them in a wide range of contexts. The technological shift from classical industrial robots, which are safely kept away from humans in cages, to robots that are used in close collaboration with humans, is faced with major challenges that need to be overcome. The objective of the workshop was to stimulate discussion and exchange knowledge on design, control, safety and ethical issues concerning the introduction of robots into everyday life. The 12th installment was organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and took place in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

This book contains seventeen contributions in the form of independent chapters, covering a broad range of topics related to human–robot interaction at physical and cognitive levels. Each chapter represents a novel piece of work presented during HFR 2022 by researchers in the different areas of robotics, where new theories, methodologies, technologies, challenges, and empirical and experimental studies are discussed. Additionally, this compilation is rich in viewpoints due to the multidisciplinary nature of its authors. Hence, this book represents an excellent opportunity for academics, researchers, and industry partners to get acquainted with the most recent work on human–robot interaction.

This book is a collection of research results in a wide range of topics related to human–robot interaction, both physical and cognitive, including theories, methodologies, technologies, and empirical and experimental studies. The works contained in the book have been presented at the 14th International Workshop on Human-Friendly Robotics (HFR 2021), organized by the University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy, October 28–29, 2021), and they describe the most original achievements in the field of human–robot interaction coming from the ideas of young researchers. The intended readership of the book is any researcher in the field of robotics interested to research problems related to human–robot coexistence, like robot interaction control, robot learning, and human–robot co-working.

The growing need to automate daily tasks, combined with new robot technologies, is driving the development of a new generation of human friendly robots, i e, safe and dependable machines, operating in the close vicinity to humans or directly interacting with them in a wide range of domains The technological shift from classical industrial robots, which are safely kept away from humans in cages, to robots, which are used in close collaboration with humans, is facing major challenges that need to be overcome The objective of the workshop is to bring together academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects related to the introduction of robots into everyday life The workshop covers a wide range of topics related to human robot interaction, both physical and cognitive, including theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies

Comprising sixteen independent chapters, this book covers recent advancements and emerging pathways within human-friendly robotics on physical and cognitive levels. Each chapter presents a novel work presented at HFR 2023 by researchers from various robotic domains, where new theories, methodologies, technologies, challenges, and empirical and experimental studies are discussed. The multidisciplinary nature of the authors enriches the compilation with varied viewpoints, making it an excellent resource for academics, researchers, and industry professionals to get acquainted with the state of the art on human-robot interaction.

How to develop robots that will be more like humans and less like computers, more social than machine-like, and more playful and less programmed. Most robots are not very friendly. They vacuum the rug, mow the lawn, dispose of bombs, even perform surgery—but they aren't good conversationalists. It's difficult to make eye contact. If the future promises more human-robot collaboration in both work and play, wouldn't it be better if the robots were less mechanical and more social? In How to Grow a Robot, Mark Lee explores how robots can be more human-like, friendly, and engaging. Developments in artificial intelligence—notably Deep Learning—are widely seen as the foundation on which our robot future will be built. These advances have already brought us self-driving cars and chess match–winning algorithms. But, Lee writes, we need robots that are perceptive, animated, and responsive—more like humans and less like computers, more social than machine-like, and more playful and less programmed. The way to achieve this, he argues, is to “grow” a robot so that it learns from experience—just as infants do. After describing “what's wrong with artificial intelligence” (one key shortcoming: it's not embodied), Lee presents a different approach to building human-like robots: developmental robotics, inspired by developmental psychology and its accounts of early infant behavior. He describes his own experiments with the iCub humanoid robot and its development from newborn helplessness to ability levels equal to a nine-month-old, explaining how the iCub learns from its own experiences. AI robots are designed to know humans as objects; developmental robots will learn empathy. Developmental robots, with an internal model of “self,” will be better interactive partners with humans. That is the kind of future technology we should work toward.

The increasing demand for physical interaction between humans and robots has led to an interest in robots whose behavior is guaranteed to be safe when they are in close proximity with humans. However, attaining sufficiently high levels of performance while ensuring safety creates formidable challenges in mechanical design, actuation, sensing, and control. To promote safety without compromising performance, a new actuation concept, referred to as hybrid actuation, has been developed. Since low impedance output at high frequencies is essential for robot safety, while optimal passive stiffness is needed for robot performance, the new actuation approach employs a pneumatic artificial muscle as a macro actuator to provide low-frequency torques. Artificial pneumatic muscles provide high force-to-weight ratio and inherent compliance, both of which allow for low impedance actuation. To compensate for the slow and non-linear dynamics of pneumatic actuation, a small electromagnetic actuator collocated at the robot's joint is employed as a mini actuator, which provides high mechanical bandwidth for high performance without increasing the inertia and size of the manipulator. To achieve the appropriate balance between safety and performance, design methodologies were developed that optimally determine key design parameters such as the required mini motor torque capacity, the joint stiffness introduced by an antagonistic pair of muscles, and the pulley radius. Using a testbed, referred to as the Stanford Safety Robot (S2rho), the hybrid actuation was evaluated for position tracking performance, force tracking performance, and impact behavior. The experimental results demonstrate that by significantly improving control performance with the hybrid actuation over performance with pneumatic muscles alone, while reducing the effective inertia significantly, the competing design objectives of safety and performance can be successfully integrated into a single robotic manipulator. As an extension of the hybrid actuation concept, the new design of dual four-degree-of-freedom robotic arms with torso is presented and detailed descriptions of the design are included.