Humans and robots in asymmetric interactions

Robots are not human. They might in some cases have a similar appearance but different behavioral and cognitive strengths and limitations. In this sense, an interaction with a robot is asymmetric. When interacting with a robot one is unsure what behavior to expect as the appearance does not necessarily make the abilities of the robot transparent. In human-human interaction, we can also find asymmetric interactions to occur. For example, in an interaction with a child, adults have to adapt to the learner's capabilities and understanding. Similarly, in interactions with special populations such as persons with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), asymmetry occurs as specific information seems to be processed differently.

In this half-day interdisciplinary workshop, we will discuss how partners cope with asymmetry to succeed in interaction. Our discussion will be motivated by linguistic and non-linguistic interaction strategies that are developed online in human-human as well as human-robot asymmetric interaction. Persons for example are often guided by their expectations and expected abilities in the interaction partners resulting in difficulties in asymmetric interactions with robots and even toward humans. Our aim is to determine factors as well as methods that are capable of supporting communication in asymmetric interactions. By bringing together researchers working on the area of asymmetric interaction concerning both human-human and human-robot interaction, this workshop aims to develop novel views on interaction understanding and modeling as well as insights into alignment processes.