ABSTRACT
Socially assistive robots (SARs) represent the intersection between assistive robotics and socially interactive robotics and assist users through social interaction. Due to the range of functions and applications falling under the umbrella of assistance, the various nomenclatures used to identify and point out these robots, and the fact that this subfield is still in the early stages of development. This chapter provides a categorization of SARs for therapy of care and indicates how developments in the field may lead to new uses for SARs that have not been identified before. SARs raises several challenges, including the need to realize intelligent and continuous behaviors, robustness and flexibility of services, and the ability to adapt to different contexts and needs. Here, AI plays a key role as it can realize cognitive capabilities like, for instance, learning, context reasoning, or planning that are highly needed in SARs. This chapter introduces the SAR ecosystem. Following, this chapter provides an overview of the SAR state of the art. Finally, this chapter concludes by highlighting the application of AI in SARs.
