Grounding emotions in robots: An introduction to the special issue

Robots inhabiting human environments need to act in relation to their own experience and embodiment as well as to social and emotional aspects. Robots that learn, act upon and incorporate their own experience and perception of others’ emotions into their responses make not only more productive artificial agents but also agents with whom humans can appropriately interact. This special issue seeks to address the significance of grounding of emotions in robots in relation to aspects of physical and homeostatic interaction in the world at an individual and social level. Specific questions concern: How can emotion and social interaction be grounded in the behavioral activity of the robotic system? Is a robot able to have intrinsic emotions? How can emotions, grounded in the embodiment of the robot, facilitate individually and socially adaptive behavior to the robot? This opening chapter provides an introduction to the articles that comprise this special issue and briefly discusses their relationship to grounding emotions in robots.