Social Robot Interaction and HRI
Social Robot Interaction and HRI is a research topic within Social Psychology. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1955. 26.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers explores the interaction between humans and social robots, focusing on topics such as socially assistive robotics, anthropomorphism, elderly care, emotion perception, cognitive developmental robotics, and the uncanny valley. It delves into the challenges and opportunities in creating meaningful and effective relationships between humans and robots for various applications.
- Socially Assistive Robotics
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Anthropomorphism
- Elderly Care
- Emotion Perception
- Cognitive Developmental Robotics
- Uncanny Valley
- Robot Companionship
- Human Perception of Robots
- Interactive Virtual Humans
- Research works
- 14k fractional, since 1955
- In the world top 10%
- 3.7k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 26.0% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- +39% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Social Robot Interaction and HRI research?
By volume, the United States and China publish the most (709 and 496 works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 United States 709 works
- 2 China 496 works
- 3 Japan 428 works
- 4 Germany 325 works
- 5 United Kingdom 222 works
- 6 Italy 211 works
- 7 India 186 works
- 8 South Korea 126 works
- 9 Canada 118 works
- 10 France 110 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Social Robot Interaction and HRI research?
By volume in 2022–2025, KTH Royal Institute of Technology publishes the most Social Robot Interaction and HRI research, followed by The University of Tokyo and The University of Osaka.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden 29 works
- 2 The University of TokyoJapan 27 works
- 3 The University of OsakaJapan 26 works
- 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 24 works
- 5 Italian Institute of TechnologyItaly 20 works
- 6 University of WaterlooCanada 19 works
- 7 Cornell UniversityUnited States 18 works
- 8 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 18 works
- 9 Universidad Carlos III de MadridSpain 17 works
- 10 University of Naples Federico IIItaly 16 works
Who are the leading researchers in Social Robot Interaction and HRI?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Social Robot Interaction and HRI include Björn W. Schuller.
- 1 Björn W. Schuller United Kingdom 3.4k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Social Robot Interaction and HRI research done?
The largest centres of Social Robot Interaction and HRI research in 2022–2025 are Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Genoa.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- GenoaIT · 32.8 works14×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social Robot Interaction and HRI than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Social Robot Interaction and HRI?
Among universities, judged by research, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo and University of Southern Denmark score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySweden | 78.5 | 35.8% | 19.5× | 29 | +46.6% |
| 2 | University of WaterlooCanada | 69.6 | 29.2% | 8.3× | 19 | +289.2% |
| 3 | University of Southern DenmarkDenmark | 66.3 | 31.0% | 10.3× | 14 | +98.7% |
| 4 | Universidad Carlos III de MadridSpain | 65.0 | 38.4% | 17.9× | 17 | -5.9% |
| 5 | Ben-Gurion University of the NegevIsrael | 63.6 | 42.0% | 9.1× | 13 | — |
| 6 | Heriot-Watt UniversityUnited Kingdom | 60.4 | 29.2% | 31.6× | 14 | -7.0% |
| 7 | Tilburg UniversityNetherlands | 60.4 | 40.6% | 12.5× | 8 | +55.3% |
| 8 | University of Naples Federico IIItaly | 58.5 | 24.2% | 6.8× | 16 | +269.0% |
| 9 | University of WürzburgGermany | 57.4 | 26.2% | 14.4× | 13 | — |
| 10 | The University of OsakaJapan | 57.3 | 16.2% | 10.5× | 26 | +8.9% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Social Robot Interaction and HRI research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 39% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Social Robot Interaction and HRI.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.