The growing need to automate daily tasks, combined with new robot technologies, is driving the development of a new generation of human-friendly robots, i.e., safe and dependable machines, operating in the close vicinity to humans or directly interacting with them in a wide range of domains. The technological shift from classical industrial robots, which are safely kept away from humans in cages, to robots, which are used in close collaboration with humans, is facing major challenges that need to be overcome.

The objective of the workshop is to bring together academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects related to the introduction of robots into everyday life. The workshop covers a wide range of topics related to human-robot interaction, both physical and cognitive, including theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies.