Foundational research showing people apply social rules to technology. Essential for understanding why we anthropomorphize robots and how to design for natural human-robot interaction.

Key Insights:

• Social Responses: People unconsciously treat technology as social actors
• Design Implications: Small behavioral cues trigger strong social reactions
• Politeness: Humans are polite to computers and robots
• Personality: Consistent behavior patterns create perceived personality

For Designers:

Understanding innate human responses helps design robots that feel natural and trustworthy.

Read More →

Comprehensive guide to social robot design from the creator of Kismet. Covers emotion expression, social learning, and natural interaction design principles.

Key Concepts:

• Social Intelligence: How robots can read and respond to human cues
• Emotional Expression: Designing legible robot emotions and intentions
• Development Approach: Robots that learn through social interaction
• Embodiment: Physical form shapes social interaction

For Designers:

Framework for creating robots that people want to interact with and can naturally communicate with.

Read More →

Comprehensive survey of human-robot interaction research covering interaction paradigms, methods, and applications.

Key Topics:

• Interaction Paradigms: Remote, proximate, and social interaction modes
• Autonomy Levels: From teleoperation to full autonomy
• Communication: Natural language, gesture, and multimodal interfaces
• Evaluation Methods: How to assess HRI effectiveness

For Product Managers:

Framework for understanding different types of human-robot interaction and their requirements.

Read More →

Classic paper identifying the "uncanny valley" phenomenon where almost-human robots trigger revulsion rather than affinity.

Design Implications:

• Human Likeness: Relationship between realism and emotional response
• Design Strategy: Either stylize or perfect - avoid the valley
• Movement Matters: Motion amplifies the uncanny effect
• Expectations: Appearance sets behavioral expectations

For Designers:

Critical understanding for making aesthetic decisions about robot appearance and behavior.

Read More →

Collection of essays examining ethical challenges in robotics from deception to military applications to care robots.

Key Themes:

• Moral Agency: Can robots be moral agents? Should they?
• Deception: Ethics of robots that appear more capable than they are
• Care Contexts: Special concerns with elderly and child care robots
• Responsibility: Who's accountable when robots harm?

For Designers:

Ethical frameworks for making responsible design decisions about robot capabilities and presentation.

Read More →

Official Arduino documentation and tutorials. The definitive resource for learning Arduino-based robotics from beginner to advanced.

What You'll Learn:

• Getting Started: First circuits, sensors, and motors
• Project Library: Hundreds of documented robot projects
• Community Knowledge: Forums and troubleshooting
• Progressive Learning: From blink LED to autonomous robots

For Makers:

Start here for hands-on robot building. Clear tutorials with supportive community.

Visit Arduino →

Official Raspberry Pi robotics resources. Learn to build vision-enabled, AI-powered robots using Python.

Key Projects:

• Camera Robots: Computer vision and object detection
• Voice Control: Natural language robot interfaces
• Machine Learning: Robots that learn from experience
• Internet Connectivity: IoT-enabled robots

For Python Developers:

Raspberry Pi offers more computational power for AI and vision than Arduino.

Explore Projects →

Exploration of robots as artistic medium and creative tool. Case studies of robot art installations and performances.

Key Topics:

• Robotic Art: Robots as sculpture, performance, and interactive installation
• Creative Expression: Using robotics for artistic purposes
• Human Augmentation: Stelarc's cybernetic art
• Social Commentary: Robots as medium for exploring humanity

For Artists & Designers:

Inspiration for using robotics as creative material beyond functional applications.

Read More →

Industry-standard middleware for robot software. Huge ecosystem of tools, libraries, and shared robot projects.

What ROS Provides:

• Standard Framework: Common structure for robot software
• Reusable Code: Libraries for navigation, vision, manipulation
• Simulation Tools: Test robots without hardware
• Community: Thousands of developers sharing solutions

For Developers:

Essential for serious robotics development. Steep learning curve but powerful capabilities.

Learn ROS →

Philosophy and principles of the maker movement. How DIY culture is transforming manufacturing, education, and innovation.

Key Principles:

• Make: Creating is fundamental to human nature
• Share: Sharing knowledge multiplies its value
• Give: Generosity creates strong communities
• Learn: Making is learning by doing
• Participate: Join and contribute to maker culture

For Educators:

Understanding maker culture helps create environments where people learn robotics by building.

Read More →

The definitive textbook on autonomous robot navigation, localization, and mapping. Foundation of self-driving cars and mobile robots.

Core Concepts:

• SLAM: Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
• Sensor Fusion: Combining uncertain sensor data
• Path Planning: Finding routes in complex environments
• Probabilistic Methods: Handling uncertainty in robot perception

For Technical Designers:

Understanding these fundamentals helps design realistic autonomous robot applications.

Read More →

Groundbreaking work showing neural networks can learn to drive by watching humans. Demonstrates power of deep learning for robot control.

Key Innovation:

• End-to-End Learning: Pixels to steering without hand-coding rules
• Imitation Learning: Robots learning from demonstration
• Generalization: Handling situations not explicitly trained
• Limitations: Understanding when learning-based approaches fail

For AI Designers:

Shows both promise and limitations of machine learning for robot autonomy.

Read Paper →

Comprehensive overview of methods for teaching robots through demonstration rather than programming.

Key Approaches:

• Kinesthetic Teaching: Physically moving robot to demonstrate
• Teleoperation: Robot watches human perform task
• Observational Learning: Learning from watching videos
• Active Learning: Robot asks questions to improve

For Interaction Designers:

Understanding how non-programmers can teach robots opens new interaction paradigms.

Read More →

Research on how robots "see" and interpret their environment. Object detection, depth perception, and scene understanding.

Key Capabilities:

• Object Detection: Identifying what's in the scene
• Semantic Segmentation: Understanding scene structure
• Depth Estimation: Perceiving 3D from 2D images
• Tracking: Following objects over time

For Product Designers:

Understanding vision capabilities informs what robots can and cannot perceive reliably.

Browse Research →

Comprehensive overview of collaborative robots (cobots) that work alongside humans in manufacturing and other domains.

Key Topics:

• Human-Robot Collaboration: Designing workflows where humans and robots work together
• Safety Systems: Force limiting and collision detection for safe coexistence
• Intuitive Interfaces: Easy programming for non-roboticists
• Applications: Assembly, pick-and-place, quality inspection

For Manufacturing Designers:

Understanding cobots opens opportunities for human-centered automation.

Read More →

Technical guide to self-driving technology, sensors, and decision-making systems. Based on KITTI autonomous driving research.

Key Systems:

• Perception: LiDAR, cameras, radar for environment understanding
• Planning: Route and trajectory planning in traffic
• Control: Executing driving maneuvers safely
• Safety: Redundancy and fail-safe systems

For Product Designers:

Understanding autonomous vehicle technology stack informs mobility and service robot design.

KITTI Dataset →

Comprehensive guide to medical robotics, focusing on surgical systems like da Vinci and future applications.

Key Applications:

• Minimally Invasive Surgery: Precision with smaller incisions
• Teleoperation: Remote surgery capabilities
• Motion Scaling: Translating surgeon movements to micro-scale
• Haptic Feedback: Providing sense of touch through robot

For Medical Designers:

Understanding surgical robotics requirements: precision, safety, and intuitive control.

Read More →

Documentation of Mars rover missions from Sojourner to Perseverance. Case studies in extreme environment robotics.

Key Challenges:

• Autonomy: Operating with communication delays
• Durability: Surviving harsh environments far longer than designed
• Science: Robotic geologists and astrobiologists
• Innovation: Ingenuity helicopter demonstrates new capabilities

For System Designers:

Lessons in designing ultra-reliable autonomous systems for challenging environments.

Mars Missions →

Annual market reports on service robots: delivery, cleaning, hospitality, and personal assistance.

Growing Sectors:

• Delivery Robots: Last-mile logistics and food delivery
• Cleaning: Vacuums, floor scrubbers, UV disinfection
• Hospitality: Reception, room service, concierge robots
• Personal Care: Elderly assistance and companion robots

For Business Strategists:

Market analysis and growth projections for service robotics opportunities.

IFR Reports →

Analysis of how automation and AI are transforming work, economy, and society. Essential reading on technology's societal impact.

Key Arguments:

• Technological Unemployment: Automation displacing workers faster than new jobs are created
• Economic Inequality: Technology benefiting capital over labor
• Policy Responses: Education, basic income, and adaptation strategies
• Human-Machine Partnership: Augmentation vs replacement

For Policy & Business:

Framework for thinking responsibly about automation's societal consequences.

Read More →

Exploration of machine ethics: can robots be moral agents? Should they be? How do we program ethical decision-making?

Key Questions:

• Moral Agency: What makes an agent morally responsible?
• Decision Frameworks: Rule-based, consequentialist, virtue ethics for robots
• Trolley Problems: Programming life-and-death decisions in autonomous systems
• Accountability: Who's responsible when robots make ethical errors?

For Ethicists & Designers:

Essential framework for building ethically aware autonomous systems.

Read More →

Critical examination of automation's costs. Privacy loss, deskilling, surveillance, and loss of human agency.

Key Concerns:

• Surveillance: Automated monitoring and behavior tracking
• Deskilling: Losing human capabilities to automation
• Bias Amplification: Automated systems encoding and scaling bias
• Agency Loss: Humans becoming passive consumers of automated decisions

For Critical Designers:

Understanding unintended consequences helps design more humane automation.

Read More →

International safety standards for robots and collaborative robots. Requirements for safe human-robot interaction.

Key Requirements:

• Risk Assessment: Identifying and mitigating hazards
• Force Limits: Maximum forces for safe contact
• Safety Zones: Monitoring and controlling robot workspace
• Emergency Stops: Quick and safe shutdown procedures

For Safety Engineers:

Understanding standards is essential for developing commercially viable robots.

ISO Standards →

Policy-focused analysis of automation's impact on employment and recommendations for navigating technological disruption.

Policy Proposals:

• Lifelong Learning: Continuous education and reskilling programs
• Social Safety Nets: Supporting workers through transitions
• Labor Standards: Adapting regulations for gig economy and automation
• Innovation Policy: Balancing progress with social welfare

For Policy Makers:

Practical framework for managing automation's societal impact through policy.

Read More →