Human-Robot Interaction in Social Robotics

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Modeling Natural Behaviors for Human-Like Interaction with Robots

4.1    Introduction

What is natural behavior in human–robot interaction? If a seemingly human-like robot does not move in a human-like way at all, one would immediately find it “unnatural.” Imagine if you were facing a human-like robot supposedly talking to you but its head direction is averted from you and facing toward someone else, you might well think that the robot is talking to the other person. Such nonverbal cues are known to be important in human communication, and recent studies have revealed that it is important to replicate nonverbal cues in human–robot interaction, too.

For instance, a robot that coordinates its body direction and exhibits a pointing gesture ...