# Human-Robot Collaboration: From Psychology to Social Robotics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.10146 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.10146/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 29 May 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Intuitive and Efficient Human-robot Collaboration via Real-time Approximate Bayesian Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.08657/) (2022)
- [Psychological and behavioural responses in human-agent vs. human-human interactions: a systematic review and meta-analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21542/) (2025)
- [Enhancing team performance with transfer-learning during real-world human-robot collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13070/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

With the advances in robotic technology, research in human-robot collaboration (HRC) has gained in importance. For robots to interact with humans autonomously they need active decision making that takes human partners into account. However, state-of-the-art research in HRC does often assume a leader-follower division, in which one agent leads the interaction. We believe that this is caused by the lack of a reliable representation of the human and the environment to allow autonomous decision making. This problem can be overcome by an embodied approach to HRC which is inspired by psychological studies of human-human interaction (HHI). In this survey, we review neuroscientific and psychological findings of the sensorimotor patterns that govern HHI and view them in a robotics context. Additionally, we study the advances made by the robotic community into the direction of embodied HRC. We focus on the mechanisms that are required for active, physical human-robot collaboration. Finally, we discuss the similarities and differences in the two fields of study which pinpoint directions of future research.