Empathy as Signalling Feedback Between Humanoid Robots and Humans

Abstract

This chapter overviews the current research on empathy in human-robot interaction (HRI) by focusing on the distinction between emotional and cognitive sides in the psychological definition of empathy, and subdividing the branches in the research on empathic agents in human-computer interaction. The following issues are focused on “how robots’ empathy toward humans can be shown,” “how robots’ empathy toward humans can affect human beings,” “whether humans can really feel empathy toward robots,” and “what evokes humans’ empathy toward robots.” Then, the chapter discusses future directions of research, including methodological and ethical issues on using empathy as the sensory cues to engage humans more with robots.