Break the Ice: a Survey on Socially Aware Engagement for Human-Robot First Encounters.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Human-Robot Interaction
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Social robots are increasingly designed for roles like butlers and waiters.
• A significant challenge for social robots is effectively managing first encounters with humans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey existing literature on robotic systems designed for human first encounters.
• To propose research directions for enhancing human-robot first encounters.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Kendon's greeting model as a framework for analyzing robotic systems.
• Employed Greenspan's model of social competence, focusing on Social Sensitivity, Social Insight, and Communication, to categorize skills.

Main Results:

• Identified research gaps in social script evaluation, interaction management under uncertainty, perception integration, social norm definition, and social feedback mechanisms.
• Proposed specific research directions to address these identified gaps.

Conclusions:

• Enhancing first encounters requires standardized social script evaluation.
• Future research should address uncertainties in interaction management and perception for mobile robots.
• Developing explicit social norm definitions and robust social feedback/recovery mechanisms is crucial for imperfect human-robot interactions.