Abstract
During a social interaction, events that happen at different timescales can indicate social meanings. In order to socially engage with humans, robots will need to be able to comprehend and manipulate the social meanings that are associated with these events. We define social moments as events that occur within a social interaction and which can signify a pragmatic or semantic meaning. A challenge for social robots is recognizing social moments that occur on short timescales, which can be on the order of 10^2ms. In this perspective, we propose that understanding the range and roles of social moments in social interaction and implementing social micro-abilities -- the abilities required to engage in a timely manner through social moments - is a key challenge for the field of human robot interaction (HRI) to enable effective social interactions and social robots. In particular, it is an open question how social moments can acquire their associated meanings. Practically, the implementation of these social micro-abilities presents engineering challenges for the fields of HRI and social robotics including performing processing of sensors and using actuators to meet fast timescales. We present a key challenge of social moments as integration of social stimuli across multiple timescales and modalities. We present the neural basis for human comprehension of social moments, and review current literature related to social moments and social micro-abilities. We discuss the requirements for social micro-abilities, how these abilities can enable more natural social robots, and how to address the engineering challenges associated with social moments.
Highlights
For robots to develop social skills, they need to engage in interaction dynamics that convey social meanings
We propose that understanding the range and roles of social moments in a social interaction and implementing social micro-abilities—the abilities required to engage in a timely manner through social moments—is a key challenge for the field of human robot interaction (HRI) to enable effective social interactions and social robots
We present a key challenge of social moments as integration of social stimuli across multiple timescales and modalities
Summary
For robots to develop social skills, they need to engage in interaction dynamics that convey social meanings. We term the events that occur within these interaction dynamics as social moments. Social interactions occur between social agents at multiple timescales. It is important to be able to understand the social significance of these fast interaction dynamics when participating in a social interaction. The social skills required for a social robot include detecting, creating, and learning the meanings of social moments. We introduce and provide a definition for social moments; outline the related literature from psychology, neuroscience, and HRI; and present the practical challenges that need to be addressed to enable fast timescale social abilities
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