The increasing demands of society in terms of communication, monitorization and assistance, which have been recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are driving the consolidation of a new social model. This model involves a strong presence of technology in daily life settings; thus, robotics is one of the disciplines most drastically affected by this shift. Robots working in a social context should incorporate social parameters in their behaviour in order to maximize adherence. Depending on the particular use case and application area, these social parameters affect navigation, interaction and task planning. Their implementation therefore requires a multidisciplinary approach, including new skills and procedures in the cognitive architecture of the robot, and an evaluation of the robot’s performance in terms of functionality, acceptability, utility and accessibility. This Special Issue will provide thorough use case specifications, a description of technical solutions and analysis of user experience in support of the application of social robots in different domains, including: education, telepresence, monitoring, security, assistance, healthcare, service, therapy, caregiving, small retail automation or industrial co-working.
A special issue of Sensors, part of the section "Sensors and Robotics".