Social Robots: Their History and What They Can Do for Us

Abstract

Abstract From antiquity to today, some scientists, writers, and artists are passionate about representing humans not only as beautiful statues but as automatons that can perform actions. Already in ancient Greece, we can find some examples of automatons that replaced servants. In this chapter, we go through the development of automatons until the social robots of today. We describe two examples of social robots, EVA and Nadine, that we have been working with. We present two case studies, one in an insurance company and the other one in an elderly home. We also mention the limits of the use of social robots, their dangers, and the importance to control their actions through ethical committees.