Christoph Bartneck, Tony Belpaeme, Friederike Eyssel, Takayuki Kanda, Merel Keijsers and Selma Sabanovic, Human–Robot Interaction: An Introduction

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/prometheus.38.3.0371
• Pages: 371-373
• Published date: 20 December 2022
• Date: 20 December 2022
• Author: Alan Richard Wagner

Book review371

BOOK REVIEW

Human–Robot Interaction: An Introduction, Christoph Bartneck, Tony Belpaeme, Friederike

Eyssel, Takayuki Kanda, Merel Keijsers, Selma Sabanovic (2020) 251pp., £44.50 paperback,

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 9781108735407

Although the ideas that underpin Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) are not new, the concepts and

organizing principles of this field have recently coalesced into a standalone, experimentally verifi-

able line of inquiry. The field of human–robot interaction is an amalgam of concepts and methods

from psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, engineering and even more remote fields,

such as ethology. There are few interconnecting conceptual threads binding the different portions of

the field, and even fewer threads that run through the field as a whole. So, encapsulating the ideas

that comprise HRI with a single title is not easy. Nevertheless, Bartneck, Belpaeme, Eyssel, Kanda,

Keijsers and Sabanovic’s recently published work does an admirable job of serving up HRI in

digestible pieces.

As the title states, the book is an introduction, designed for undergraduates. It contains none

of the math that underpins artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine learning, some of the

fields that support HRI. Rather, the book focuses on HRI’s concepts and research methodology,

areas useful for undergraduates considering graduate studies in HRI and for professionals already

working in the area. The first three chapters introduce the reader to the authors, the field itself

(including the history of HRI) and provide short summary of how robots operate. These chapters are

filled with images and diagrams to help build common understanding with readers of what a robot

is and how it works, and to help modify the notion of a robot inculcated upon most readers by sci-

ence fiction. Each chapter begins with what might be described as learning objectives for the

chapter and concludes with a series of questions for reflection and further reading.

Background material covered, the remainder of the book delves into what might be consid-

ered the core ingredients of HRI. Chapter 4 takes a lengthy look at the design of interactive robots,

covering key aspects and key researchers in HRI design. Throughout this book, chapter topics often

seem to take a detour, covering material which is not a natural fit for the chapter, but which might not

be a natural fit elsewhere. For instance, the design chapter presents some of the theory underlying

anthropomorphism and the ‘uncanny valley’. Anthropomorphism is the natural tendency of human

beings to perceive and reason about non-living things as if they were living (Heider and Simmel,

1944). The uncanny valley is the observation that, as the human likeness of an object increases, lik-

ability increases to a point, but then sharply decreases, before rising again (Mori, 1970). This sharp

dip is the uncanny valley, where the human likeness of an object is enough to foster anthropmor-

phism but may also foster a sense of uneasiness. The inclusion of the psychological basis for

anthropomorphism and the uncanny valley in the design chapter highlights one of the challenges of

writing an introduction to HRI – the fact that some topics may not have a natural home.

We then pivot through a series of three chapters, briefly exploring different methods for

interacting with a robot. In fewer than 15 pages, each chapter summarizes expansive fields of

research, focusing on the facets that relate most to HRI. The spatial interaction chapter describes

how a robot’s proximity to a person can impact interaction. The non-verbal interaction chapter

examines the use of gaze, gestures, touch and posture as methods for a robot to communicate with

a person. The verbal interaction chapter, after succinctly introducing the components of human–

human verbal interaction, very briefly outlines methods of speech recognition, dialogue management

and speech production. Each of these chapters barely skims the surface of the topics it covers which

DOI:10.13169/prometheus.38.3.0371