Embodiment, Socially Intelligent Behaviour and Proactive Robots

Abstract There is growing consensus among robotics experts that integrating concepts from social intelligence and embodiment can significantly enhance robot design. Humans have evolved to perform and survive in a world characterised by rapid change, high uncertainty, indefinite intricacy, and limited availability of information. By contrast, robots operate in highly controlled environments with limited uncertainty. Although many challenges remain, concepts from social intelligence and embodiment will eventually enable researchers to engineer proactive robots for the real world that possess at least some of the desirable properties of humans, such as adaptivity, predictability, dexterity, and creativity in versatile domains where behaviour must not only be intelligent but also socially acceptable. This article aims to explore the multifaceted role of embodiment in enhancing the proactive capabilities of robots in this context.