There is a surge of interest in having robots leave the labs and factory floors to help solve critical issues facing our society, ranging from eldercare to education. Truth be told, the robots are not ready! We have some core scientific questions to solve before machines can function in, inherently social, dynamic human environments, and this is the heart of the Socially Intelligent Machines research goal. A critical issue is that we will not be able to preprogram these robots with every skill they will need to play a useful role in society; robots will need the ability to interact and learn new things ’on the job’ from ordinary people. Our research is about breaking down barriers like this that keep robots from functioning in everyday human environments.

Started in Fall 2007, the Socially Intelligent Machines research lab at Georgia Tech is affiliated with the RIM and GVU research centers.