Interacting Robots in Everyday Life and the Transformation of Society (Robociety)
Robociety explores how robots can become part of our daily lives and what that means for society. Since the 1960s, robots have played a key role in industry, improving welfare by taking over physically demanding and repetitive tasks. Over time, they have become more capable, thanks to advances in sensors, cameras, and control systems. Today, robots can safely work alongside humans in industrial settings and, to some extent, in large facilities like hospitals and airports.
The success of companies such as Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), both based in Odense, highlights the strength of the local robotics sector. While Robociety is centered in Odense, it is not limited to it. The project welcomes collaboration and insights from across regions and disciplines, benefiting from the proximity to a thriving robotics ecosystem without being geographically exclusive.
Despite these advances, robots are still rarely seen in everyday settings. In homes, public spaces, and workplaces, they struggle to interact meaningfully with people. While digital systems like ChatGPT, Mistral, and DeepSeek have made human-computer interaction more natural, physical robots that can move, speak, and act still face major challenges in open, unpredictable environments.
Solving the Human-Robot Interaction problem is expected to be a turning point - enabling robots to integrate into daily life and driving significant societal change.
Robociety addresses two core challenges: designing interactive robots and ensuring their successful integration into society. This requires an interdisciplinary approach that brings together engineering with psychology, economics, political science, and the arts.
Four perspectives on Human-Robot interaction
Robciety will address the wicked problem of designing interacting robots and introducing these robots to society from four different perspectives.
