This Was (Not) Intended: How Intent Communication and Biometrics Can Enhance Social Interactions With Robots

Abstract: Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) are robots that are designed to replicate the role of a caregiver, coach, or teacher, providing emotional, cognitive, and social cues to support a specific group. SARs are becoming increasingly prevalent, especially in elderly care. Effective communication, both explicit and implicit, is a critical aspect of human-robot interaction involving SARs. Intent communication is necessary for SARs to engage in effective communication with humans. Biometrics can provide crucial information about a person's identity or emotions. By linking these biometric signals to the communication of intent, SARs can gain a profound understanding of their users and tailor their interactions accordingly. The development of reliable and robust biometric sensing and analysis systems is critical to the success of SARs. In this work, we focus on four different aspects to evaluate the communication of intent involving SARs, existing works, and our outlook on future works and applications.