Consider a greeting robot that approaches a customer. The customer steps aside, but the robot interprets the movement as a new position to follow. The customer steps aside again, and the robot follows again. Nothing has mechanically failed, yet the interaction has become uncomfortable because the system has no socially appropriate stopping rule.
The navigation system may be operating as specified and the greeting script may be clear. What remains undesigned is the space between them.
That gap between what a machine can do and how a human experiences it is a central concern of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). HRI draws from robotics, human factors, psychology, design, and related disciplines to study and shape how people and robots interact.
FIGURE 1.1: The gap between what a robot can do and how a human experiences it is the primary design space of HRI.
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