Purpose of review: To present the multi-faceted aspects of communication between robot and humans (HRI), putting in evidence that it is not limited to language-based interaction, but it includes all aspects that are relevant in communication among physical beings, exploiting all the available sensor channels.
Recent findings: For specific purposes, machine learning algorithms could be exploited when data sets and appropriate algorithms are available.
Summary: Together with linguistic aspects, physical aspects play an important role in HRI and make the difference with respect to the more limited human-computer interaction (HCI). A review of the recent literature about the exploitation of different interaction channels is presented. The interpretation of signals and the production of appropriate communication actions require to consider psychological, sociological, and practical aspects, which may affect the performance. Communication is just one of the functionalities of an interactive robot and, as all the others, will need to be benchmarked to support the possibility for social robots to reach a real market.
Keywords: Communication; Human-robot interaction; Robot design.
© The Author(s) 2020.