Editorial: The Art of Human-Robot Interaction: Creative Perspectives From Design and the Arts.

Abstract

The Art of Human-Robot Interaction: Creative Perspectives from Design and the Arts Advancements in robotics have traditionally been considered the domain of engineering and computer science. However, cross-disciplinary collaborations between the arts and engineering can help drive innovation and technical solutions in robotics and fuel innovation in contemporary art (Stelarc, 2016, Goldberg, 2001. As robotic technologies mature and move beyond research laboratories and the factory floor, there is a greater emphasis and need to understand how to design and implement interactive and collaborative robots in the real world alongside people.User-centred and participatory design methods are well-established in the HCI domain (Wilkinson and De Angeli, 2014), and there is a push to establish similar processes for robot design. Art and design help stimulate this process by involving end-users in the design process and cultivating interdisciplinary approaches to exploring the frontiers of HRI in the real world. One method for bridging artistic and engineering practices is through workshops that explore diverse disciplinary perspectives to find common ground and identify relevant design principles. Since the early 2010s, many international workshops, forums and programs have explored cross-disciplinary research in robots and art 1 (Smart et al., 2010, St-Onge, 2019. This research topic expands on ideas and discoveries made by this emerging community.