Misty-A Development Platform for Socially Assistive Robots [Student's Corner]

Socially assistive robots (SARs) serve as assistants that help people through social interactions. To completely understand what that means, we need to look at two distinct areas of robotics that have been around for quite some time. SARs are an amalgam of the capabilities of socially interactive robots and the intentions of assistive robots. The main purpose of socially interactive robots is to interact with people through speech, gestures, and other modes of communication that humans can understand. These robots have been deployed in hospitality settings, such as hotel lobbies and welcome stations, where they serve as interactive information kiosks and guides.