AI-HRI 2021 Proceedings

Trust and explainability are central concerns in human-robot interaction: The symposium has pioneered discussions on "trust in HRI" and "XAI for HRI" (explainable AI for human-robot interaction) over the past decade, indicating these are foundational issues the field considers essential for responsible AI deployment with robots.

Ethics must be integrated throughout HRI research, not added as an afterthought: The proceedings explicitly acknowledge that "ethics is an inherent part of human-robot interaction" and actively encourage ethics-focused submissions, suggesting responsible AI requires ethical considerations embedded in design rather than treated as a separate concern.

HRI research is expanding beyond physical robots: The symposium now welcomes work using AR/VR and other evaluation methods without physical robots, meaning responsible AI development for human-robot interaction can advance through diverse research approaches and doesn't require expensive physical prototypes.

The field is maturing and becoming more inclusive: Since 2014, the AI-HRI community has grown enough to move beyond single-theme symposia and actively welcome new researchers across disciplines, suggesting responsible human-robot interaction is becoming a collaborative, multidisciplinary priority rather than a niche concern.

Service robots and interactive learning raise distinct responsibility challenges: The symposium's focus on "service robots" and "interactive learning" highlights that different robot applications (helping humans vs. learning from interaction) may require different ethical frameworks and safeguards.