Mari Velonaki

This article addresses the diffusion of social robots not merely as technological innovation, but as an emerging transformation that may reshape human social environments, interactional patterns, and modes of coordination. To orient this transformation towards social sustainability, we propose a twofold contribution grounded in difference and complementarity rather than imitation and substitution. First, we advance a transdisciplinary paradigm for social robotics, termed “robots with us, not like us,” articulated through three interconnected components: peri-human design , which proposes an alternative to anthropomorphic design based on compatible difference; perceptual identity markers , understood as design operators that make robotic otherness perceptually and socially legible while stabilising identity across interactions; and futuring social robotics , a synthetic methodology for exploring emerging forms of human–robot sociality. Second, we materialise this paradigm in ScentDia, an artistic social robot that uses scent as a perceptual identity marker to investigate olfaction as a medium of social presence. As it encounters humans, ScentDia modulates specific (non-biological, non-human) olfactory stimuli to signal its robotic identity and establish a clear form of compatible otherness, leveraging olfaction as a channel for recognition, orientation, and affective attunement. Together, the paradigm and its material instantiation introduce olfactory social robotics as a programmatic research direction, exploring how a socially sustainable human–robot world may be shaped through the valorisation of difference.

The potential of spatial sound to immerse, guide, and affect humans is well-known, but has so far received little attention in the field of human-robot interaction. In this paper, we therefore explore how a robot emitting spatial sound affects a human’s impressions and behavior. Following a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach, we created two immersive robot sound designs which are emitted across the robot’s body and through speakers in the environment. In an evaluation study, participants interacted with the robot and shared their impressions through semi-structured interviews. Reactions showed that spatial robot sound had a notable effect on participant behavior and impressions, influencing, among others, how much attention they paid to the physical robot and how much animacy and agency they attributed to it. We report on our insights into how spatial sound may provide social robots with new ways to inform and engage the humans around them.

This article discusses the role of electroacoustic music practice in the context of human–robot interaction (HRI), illustrated by the first author’s work creating the sonic language of interactive robotic artwork Diamandini. It starts with a discussion of the role of sound in social robotics and surveys various notable conceptual approaches to robot sound. The central thesis of the article is that electroacoustic music can provide a valuable source of aesthetic considerations and creative practice for the creation of richer and more refined sonic HRIs by giving practitioners new ways to create believable sounding objects, to convey fiction, agency and animacy, and to communicate causality in auditory feedback. To demonstrate this, the authors describe the rationale for treating robot sound design as a compositional process and discuss the implications of the endeavour’s non-linear and site-specific nature. These considerations are illustrated using sound examples and design decisions made throughout the creation process of the robotic artwork. The authors conclude with observations on how the compositional process is affected by this particular application context.

How can we use sound and music to create rich and engaging human-robot interactions? A growing body of HRI research explores the many ways in which sound affects human-robot interactions and although some studies conclude with tentative design recommendations, there are, to our knowledge, no generalised design recommendations for the robot sound design process. We address this gap by first investigating sound design frameworks in the domains of product sound design and film sound to see whether practices and concepts from these areas contain actionable insights for the creation of robot sound. We then present three case studies, detailed examinations of the sound design of commercial social robots Cozmo and Vector, Jibo, and Kuri, facilitated by expert interviews with the robots’ sound designers. Combining insights from the design frameworks and case studies, we propose nine candidate design principles for robot sound which provide (1) a design-oriented perspective on robot sound that may inform future research, and (2) actionable guidelines for designers, engineers and decision-makers aiming to use sound to create richer and more refined human-robot interactions.