Explicit representation of social norms for social robots

Abstract

As robots are expected to become more and more available in everyday environments, interaction with humans is assuming a central role. Robots working in populated environments are thus expected to demonstrate socially acceptable behaviors and to follow social norms. However, most of the recent works in this field do not address the problem of explicit representation of the social norms and their integration in the reasoning and the execution components of a cognitive robot. In this paper, we address the design of robotic systems that support some social behavior by implementing social norms. We present a framework for planning and execution of social plans, in which social norms are described in a domain and language independent form. A full implementation of the proposed framework is described and tested in a realistic scenario with non-expert and non-recruited users.