Human-machine interfaces
More and more often, robots are applied in tasks where they are not stored away behind fences, but have to cooperate with humans. Hence, the robot controller must not only be able to control the physics of the robot and its interaction with a physical world, but it must now also be able to communicate with the human. It must give the user the “right amount” of information about its current and planned actions, together with its current model of the world. In addition, it must be able to receive inputs from the user in a natural mode; i.e., the human users should not have to learn how to program the robot, but the should be allowed “to talk” to the robot in a similar way as they talk to other human beings.
It is clear that the specifications above require more than physics and mathematics: the psychological and social aspects of human communication must be taken into account.