Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a very interdiscplinary and quickly growing research area. While a lot can be learnt from psychology, ethology, HCI, and other fields regarding suitable methodologies and evaluation techniques, the way how people interact with physical, embodied robots, more often than not, may give unexpected results. In my talk I will discuss concrete examples of HRI studies in two different projects: Within the European Cogniron project (www.cogniron.org) we have been studying over the past 4 years how people interact with robot companions that may operate in their homes. Such a robot companion should a) be able to carry out useful tasks in a home scenario, and b) perform these tasks in a manner that is socially acceptable for its owner. Results from recent studies in the .Robot House., a domestic environment where people can interact with robots in a more naturalistic setting, will be presented. Aurora is the second HRI project I will introduce (www.aurora-project.com), more recently complemented by the European project IROMEC (www.iromec.org). Here, we develop robotic toy-like companions to serve as social mediators for children who otherwise cannot play. Specifically, the UH team focusses on how a robot may encourage social interaction between children with autism and other children, or carers. In both projects long-term studies play an important role, as well as the consideration of individual abilities, preferences and attitudes of people towards robots.

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