A survey on socially aware robot navigation: Taxonomy and future challenges

Abstract

Socially aware robot navigation is gaining popularity with the increase in delivery and assistive robots. The research is further fueled by a need for socially aware navigation skills in autonomous vehicles to move safely and appropriately in spaces shared with humans. Although most of these are ground robots, drones are also entering the field. In this paper, we present a literature survey of the works on socially aware robot navigation in the past 10 years. We propose four different faceted taxonomies to navigate the literature and examine the field from four different perspectives. Through the taxonomic review, we discuss the current research directions and the extending scope of applications in various domains. Further, we put forward a list of current research opportunities and present a discussion on possible future challenges that are likely to emerge in the field.

Bridging Requirements, Planning, and Evaluation: A Review of Social Robot Navigation

“…Robots also need to convey their intentions and decisions to humans, utilizing verbal and visual techniques such as speech and gestures employing onboard actuators. The topic of explicit communication has been investigated to varying degrees in other review works [4,10,11]. Since it is related to higher-level problem-solving, we decided not to categorize our literature search according to this characteristic.…”

“…Since it is related to higher-level problem-solving, we decided not to categorize our literature search according to this characteristic. In contrast, implicit communication is commonplace in human-robot interaction studies and is more relevant to the investigated topics; hence, it is widely discussed in our survey, as well as in [4,11,12].…”

“…This may involve collaborative decision-making processes, e.g., requesting permission to pass. While the scope of the negotiations field extends way beyond human-robot interaction, this concept has been briefly discussed in other social robotics surveys [11,13].…”

“…On the other hand, what substantially affects the requirements and objectives of perception and human-aware robot motion planning is the type of robot. Variations in ground, aerial, or aquatic robots [11,14] significantly impact possible scenarios, hence also the range of human-robot interactions. The taxonomy of our considerations does not differentiate the robot types; instead, we focus primarily on ground-wheeled robots, although some principles and algorithmic techniques may also apply to aerial robots.…”

“…Notably, our survey is also not limited to specific publication years (e.g., [11]) as certain findings, particularly social robot navigation requirements derived from user studies, retain relevance over an extended period. Despite being a subject of research for over 20 years, the field has seen a surge in publications in recent years, as presented in Figure 1.…”