Human-robot interaction (HRI) — the interdisciplinary study of how people and robots interact, encompassing perception, communication, collaboration, and the social, cognitive, and ethical dynamics of that interaction. In education, HRI underlies how learners perceive, trust, and learn with robots — whether programming a robot, conversing with a tutoring robot, or rehearsing social scenarios. HRI research examines how robot appearance, behaviour, task context, and embodiment shape user experience, trust, agency, and learning.
HRI sits at the intersection of robotics, cognitive science, psychology, and Human AI Collaboration. It is the empirical and theoretical foundation for Educational Robotics, examining what makes human-robot interaction effective, trustworthy, and beneficial for learning and well-being. Key concerns in educational HRI include preserving human Agency, building Trust, supporting Self Efficacy, and ensuring that interaction with robots supports rather than undermines autonomy and social learning.
How HRI appears in the wiki's research
Trust and task context: Research on trust in educational HRI shows that task context shapes trust in social robots more than appearance, with the highest trust during instructional tasks.Autonomy and sense of agency: A systematic review synthesizes how HRI affects human autonomy and sense of agency, bridging design frameworks with regulatory demands (EU AI Act, IEEE Ethically Aligned Design).Natural language and perception: The iCub narrative HRI study integrates perceptual capabilities with generative models (ChatGPT) for contextually appropriate social behaviour in co-creative storytelling.Language-driven control: EduSim-LLM translates natural-language instructions into robot behaviour sequences, and RoboBlockly Studio uses a conversational AI agent alongside embodied robot execution.Sign-language interaction: Pepper sign-language research explores robot communication with Deaf users in LIS.HRI connects to Social Robots, Educational Robotics, Embodied Learning, Human AI Collaboration, Agency, Trust, Well Being, and Ethics. It informs responsible design of educational robots and their evaluation.
Connected Concepts
Social RobotsEducational RoboticsEmbodied LearningHuman AI CollaborationAgencyTrustWell BeingEthicsConnected Articles
Pepper Social Robot Formal Education Scoping Review 2026 — Pepper in Formal Education: A Scoping ReviewTask Context Trust Educational Hri 2026 — Task Context and Trust in Educational HRIHuman Autonomy Agency Hri Review 2025 — Human Autonomy and Agency in HRIIcub Humanoid Storytelling LLM Hri 2025 — iCub Narrative HRIEdusim LLM Robotic Simulation Education 2026 — EduSim-LLMPepper Robot Sign Language Lis 2025 — Pepper and Sign LanguageRoboblockly Conversational Block Robotics Ct 2026 — RoboBlockly StudioWhite Wu Robotics AI Education 2026 — Robotics and AI in Education