Social Network Engagement during Human-robot Interaction

The improvement of natural and intuitive interaction is currently one of the major challenges for studies of human-robot interaction. Although the sector has advanced technologically to astonishing levels, the integration of these robots into our social environment frequently still feels rusty. People are often reluctant to communicate with robots on a regular basis because they feel uneasy or distrustful of them. As a result, conversing with an agent from a novel embodiment raises significant questions about human social interaction in general. How do people connect, or how does interaction result in the social relationship that is viewed as the ultimate aim? My goal is to systematically investigate the neural mechanisms of social behaviour during human-robot interaction. Specifically, my aim is to investigate the social domain-general networks in the brain that form the underpinnings of communication. While cutting-edge research techniques, such as simultaneous scanning and real-time measurements, have been used in neuroscientific research to study human-human interaction, the extension of neuroscience towards human-robot interaction is surprisingly novel. I therefore want to contribute to the human-robot interaction field with the methods from neuroscience using an interdisciplinary, naturalistic, and replicable approach.