Embodiment in Socially Interactive Robots
Eric Deng, Bilge Mutlu, Maja Mataric

TL;DR
This paper reviews the role of physical embodiment in socially interactive robots, analyzing 65 studies to understand when and why embodiment enhances social interaction and robot functionality.
Contribution
It introduces three taxonomies for robot embodiment, social roles, and tasks, providing a systematic framework to analyze and discuss embodiment in social robotics research.
Findings
Embodiment influences social interaction effectiveness.
Different social roles require different embodiment types.
Embodiment is not always necessary for social robot functions.
Abstract
Physical embodiment is a required component for robots that are structurally coupled with their real-world environments. However, most socially interactive robots do not need to physically interact with their environments in order to perform their tasks. When and why should embodied robots be used instead of simpler and cheaper virtual agents? This paper reviews the existing work that explores the role of physical embodiment in socially interactive robots. This class consists of robots that are not only capable of engaging in social interaction with humans, but are using primarily their social capabilities to perform their desired functions. Socially interactive robots provide entertainment, information, and/or assistance; this last category is typically encompassed by socially assistive robotics. In all cases, such robots can achieve their primary functions without performing…
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