Human-Robot Interaction
The HRI theme brings together a varied group of researchers from multiple Faculties across the TU Delft campus along with several partner organisations. The core challenge is to develop robots that can co-exist, cooperate and communicate with people in ways that are safe, natural, comfortable and effective.
We approach this challenge from diverse perspectives. At one end of the spectrum are those focussing on developing control algorithms for direct physical interaction during manual tasks. At the other end are those seeking to understand psychological and emotional factors.
HRI can occur in physical, cognitive and social domains (potentially simultaneously) and all are of interest to our community. Furthermore, while much of our research starts in the lab, our ultimate goal is to develop robots that work and interact reliably ‘in the wild’. Relevant applications include the manufacturing, retail, service and healthcare industries among others. Achieving all this requires extensive cooperation and a transdisciplinary approach involving scientist, designers and engineers from multiple specialisms, along with domain experts and industry partners.
Scientific Challenges:
- How can we make robots that interact safely with people when sharing a space or performing cooperative physical tasks?
- How can we achieve effective and intuitive communication of instructions, intentions and internal state between humans and robots?
- How can we make robots work reliably and robustly in the face of dynamic and unpredictable human behaviour?
- How best can we integrate robots into human work practices such that productivity is improved and the work is made safer and more pleasant for humans?