Embedded multimodal interfaces in robotics: applications, future trends, and societal implications

In the past, robots were primarily used to perform work that was either too hard, too dangerous or simply too repetitive for humans, e.g., assembly line work, or work that could be done much faster by a robotic system, such as placement work. In the future, human-robot interaction will cover a much broader range of scenarios, from working interactively with humans in the context of industrial manufacturing to robotic appliances designed to care the elderly; even in applied areas, such as autonomous robots in space or operating underwater, the demand for robots to interact or to be intuitively controlled is growing. Hence, interaction will not only involve direct control of a robot or information exchange but will include direct cooperation and physical interaction between human and robot, i.e., humanrobot cooperation. While direct cooperation has tremendous advantages it also presents a number of significant challenges that should not be underestimated. Advanced interfaces to enable human-robot cooperation will be required to meet these challenges and the needs of human-robot interaction in the future.