Applications

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

Human-robot interaction is the multidisciplinary field studying how robots and people communicate, collaborate, and share space, drawing on robotics, cognitive science, design, and psychology. It covers physical HRI, where safety during contact is paramount, and social dimensions such as legibility of robot motion, trust calibration, and natural-language communication, with dedicated venues like the ACM/IEEE HRI conference.

Why it matters for physical AI

General-purpose robots will work among people who never read a manual, so legible motion, intent communication, and calibrated trust are as decisive for adoption as raw task success rates.