Human-Robot Interaction

Scope

Our TC covers a comprehensive range of human-robot interaction, from low-level physical safety and biomechanics to high-level cognitive coordination and social perception, ensuring a holistic approach to human-robot synergy.

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For instance, new applications for robots in health, education, entertainment, the home, and work environments require them to collaborate with people as capable partners. Such robots must have human-oriented interaction skills and capabilities to work with us as teammates, learn from us or teach us, as well as communicate with and understand us. The goals of the interaction between people and robots might potentially span physical, cognitive, task-based, social, or emotional dimensions.

Given this, human-robot interaction broadly poses multi-faceted issues requiring not only technical but also cultural, sociological, psychological, philosophical and even ethical considerations.

The IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Human-Robot Interaction provides a forum for the full breadth of research on robots that share space, tasks, and goals with people — spanning physical safety and biomechanics, intention recognition and cognitive modeling, multi-modal and social perception, and human-aware planning and control.

The TC’s mission is to turn this breadth into concrete technical activity: special issues in leading journals, workshops and tutorials at ICRA, IROS, RO-MAN, Humanoids and CASE, and forums that bring academic results closer to industrial and societal needs. Since 2026 the TC also works to strengthen synergies with the other committees of the Human-centered and Life-like Robotics cluster.

Emerging Voices — Call for Speakers

We are launching a series of community-driven events highlighting emerging voices in human-robot interaction. Our goal is an inclusive, dynamic space where early-career researchers present their work, share ideas, and engage with the wider community. If you have held a PhD for less than five years and work on topics related to human-robot interaction, we invite you to apply to give a talk and join a live discussion. Selected speakers will be featured in the TC webinar series beginning in November 2026.

Topics of Interest

Theoretical focus areas

Physical Human-Robot Interaction
Human-Robot Collaboration
Human-Centered Robotics
Human Performance Augmentation
Modeling and Simulating Humans
Intention Recognition
Cognitive Modeling
Human-Robot Perception
Multi-Modal Perception for HRI
Social HRI
Human-Aware Motion Planning
Gesture, Posture and Facial Expressions
Haptics and Haptic Interfaces
Compliance and Impedance Control
Machine Learning for Robot Control
Design and Human Factors
Learning from Demonstration

Application domains

Prosthetics and Exoskeletons
Wearable Robotics
Human-Robot Teaming
Physically Assistive Devices
Rehabilitation Robotics
Collaborative Robots
Service Robotics
Humanoid and Bipedal Locomotion
Telerobotics and Teleoperation
Medical Robots and Systems
Socially Assistive Robots
Search and Rescue Robots

Leadership

Co-Chairs (term beginning 1 January 2026)

Wansoo Kim — Hanyang University ERICA, Korea
Marta Lorenzini — Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Italy
Laura Fiorini — Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

Honorary Chair

Filippo Cavallo — Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

Student Representatives (from March 2026)

Dong-gyu Lee — Hanyang University, Korea
Hochul Hwang — University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Marco Vincenzo Maselli — Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

Priorities for 2026–2028

Governance and continuity — a regular co-chair meeting cadence and a shared archive, with an Honorary Chair bridging previous and current leadership.
Workshop and tutorial endorsement — a dedicated application process for endorsing high-quality workshops and tutorials at flagship conferences, with best paper and best poster awards at endorsed events.
Webinar series — an online series giving visibility to early-career researchers.
Community and outreach — networking events for students and members at ICRA, ICRA Welcome Kits coordinated by the Student Representatives, and an active presence on LinkedIn and other channels.
Cluster synergies — joint activities with the other committees of the Human-centered and Life-like Robotics cluster.