Social Robots for People | Francesco Del Duchetto

Summary

This theme brings together work on robots deployed in everyday social environments — from museum galleries and schools to supermarkets and care settings. This covers two complementary directions: robot perception of people (detecting engagement, attention, and social signals to enable responsive interactions), and people’s perception of robots (studying how users experience and trust robots, and designing systems that align with human values). Key questions include: how do different people — including children, people with intellectual disabilities, and the general public — interact with robots? How should robots disclose their AI nature? And how can we design robots that genuinely benefit the communities they serve?

Videos

Projects

Service Robots Interventions Promoting More Sustainable Buyers’ Choices, Funded by UKRI AI SUSTAIN CDT PhD project (PI: Francesco Del Duchetto). 2024-2027.
Trustworthy Accessible Robots for Inclusive Cultural experienceS (TARICS), Funded by UKRI TAS Hub, Partners: University of Lincoln (PI: Maria Galvez Trigo), University of Nottingham, Lincolnshire County Council. Link: https://tas.ac.uk/research-projects-2022-23/tarics/
Guiding Robot Guides: Developing Guidelines for Robotic Technologies in Cultural Spaces, Funded by Lincoln Policy Hub (PI: Francesco Del Duchetto). Policy blog post: https://policyhub.lincoln.ac.uk/guiding-robot-guides/
Lindsey: the Tour Guide Robot, Funded by Lincolnshire County Council, University of Lincoln (PI: Prof Marc Hanheide). Link: https://lcas.lincoln.ac.uk/wp/projects/lindsey-a-robot-tour-guide/

References

2026

HRI

Who leads the story? Comparing autonomous vs. adult-supported child-robot interactions

Dotun Olutunbi, Riccardo Polvara, Thomas Davies, and 3 more authors

In Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2026

Bib HTML

@inproceedings{olutunbi2026who,
  title = {Who leads the story? Comparing autonomous vs. adult-supported child-robot interactions},
  author = {Olutunbi, Dotun and Polvara, Riccardo and Davies, Thomas and Hamilton, James and Kargas, Niko and Del Duchetto, Francesco},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)},
  pages = {139--148},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {ACM},
}

HRI

More than a warning: Dynamic consent builds trust while static disclosure can harm it in public service robots

Robbie J. Cato, Lambros Lazuras, Narongrit Leesakul, and 1 more author

In Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI Companion), 2026

Bib HTML

@inproceedings{cato2026more,
  title = {More than a warning: Dynamic consent builds trust while static disclosure can harm it in public service robots},
  author = {Cato, Robbie J. and Lazuras, Lambros and Leesakul, Narongrit and Del Duchetto, Francesco},
  booktitle = {Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI Companion)},
  pages = {150--154},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {ACM},
}

2025

Behavioral Science Meets Robotics: Designing AI-PersonalisedNudges for Sustainable Habits

Aura Anderson-Ross, David McBey, Leonardo Guevara, and 1 more author

In UK AI Research Symposium, 2025

Bib PDF

@inproceedings{anderson2025behavioral,
  title = {Behavioral Science Meets Robotics: Designing AI-PersonalisedNudges for Sustainable Habits},
  author = {Anderson-Ross, Aura and McBey, David and Guevara, Leonardo and Del Duchetto, Francesco},
  booktitle = {UK AI Research Symposium},
  year = {2025},
}

2020

FRobAI

Are You Still With Me? Continuous Engagement Assessment From a Robot’s Point of View

Francesco Del Duchetto, Paul Baxter, and Marc Hanheide

Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2020

Bib Code

@article{del2020you,
  title = {Are You Still With Me? Continuous Engagement Assessment From a Robot's Point of View},
  author = {Del Duchetto, Francesco and Baxter, Paul and Hanheide, Marc},
  journal = {Frontiers in Robotics and AI},
  volume = {7},
  number = {116},
  year = {2020},
  publisher = {Frontiers Media SA},
}

2019

Lindsey the Tour Guide Robot-Usage Patterns in a Museum Long-Term Deployment

Francesco Del Duchetto, Paul Baxter, and Marc Hanheide

In IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

Bib

@inproceedings{del2019lindsey,
  title = {Lindsey the Tour Guide Robot-Usage Patterns in a Museum Long-Term Deployment},
  author = {Del Duchetto, Francesco and Baxter, Paul and Hanheide, Marc},
  booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Robot \& Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)},
  year = {2019},
  organization = {IEEE},
}

2018

Engaging Learners in Dialogue Interactivity Development for Mobile Robots

Paul Baxter, Francesco Del Duchetto, and Marc Hanheide

In EDUROBOTICS 2018, 2018

Bib

@inproceedings{baxter2018engaging,
  title = {Engaging Learners in Dialogue Interactivity Development for Mobile Robots},
  author = {Baxter, Paul and Del Duchetto, Francesco and Hanheide, Marc},
  booktitle = {EDUROBOTICS 2018},
  year = {2018},
}