Advances in Human-Robot Collaboration

Dear Colleagues,

Human–robot collaboration has become an exciting and rapidly evolving field that holds significant promise for revolutionizing industries, enhancing productivity, and improving everyday life. Recent advances in artificial intelligence, spanning from foundational models (LLM, VLM) and robotics (bipeds, qutrapeds, etc.) to sensing technologies, have made robots increasingly capable of working alongside humans in complex environments. These advancements raise new challenges in the development of robotic systems that can effectively collaborate with humans, adapt to dynamic environments, and learn from human feedback. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to showcase cutting-edge research and practical results in the area of human–robot collaboration, with an emphasis on design, theory, service, and real-world applications.

Relevant areas to this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Collaborative robot systems: The design, development, and deployment of robots that work seamlessly alongside humans in shared workspaces.
• Human–robot interactions (HRIs): Advances in understanding how humans and robots can communicate, cooperate, and co-exist in joint tasks.
• Robotics in industrial settings: The integration of robots into production lines, manufacturing, and assembly tasks, emphasizing safety, efficiency, and task-sharing with human workers.
• Cognitive and adaptive robotics: The development of robots that can learn from their environment, adapt to human actions, and modify their behavior based on real-time interactions.
• Human factors and ergonomics: Research on the designs of robots and work environments that optimize human–robot collaboration, ensuring safety, comfort, and task efficiency.

Human–robot team coordination: Algorithms and systems that enable efficient collaboration between humans and robots

• in multi-agent scenarios, such as coordination, task allocation, and resource management.
• Robotics and chemistry: We also encourage submissions from researchers working in the interdisciplinary area of robotics and chemistry, such as robot-assisted chemical synthesis, robotic laboratory automation, and robots that are used for hazardous material handling.
• Human–robot collaboration in healthcare: The integration of robots into clinical and caregiving environments to support medical professionals and enhance patient outcomes, such as surgical assistance, social interactions, and mental health support.
• Augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) in human–robot collaboration: The applications of AR and VR technologies to improve human–robot interactions, visualizations of robot tasks, training environments for robot operators, and immersive collaborative spaces.
• Grasping and manipulation: Techniques and technologies related to robot manipulation, including grasping objects in unstructured environments, object recognition, force control, and manipulation strategies for effective human–robot collaboration.
• Bipeds and quadrupeds collaboration: Advances in the integration of bipedal and quadrupedal robots into collaborative systems, including their coordination with humans and other robots, enhancing mobility, stability, and task performance in dynamic environments.

• Cloud robotics: The development and deployment of machine learning models, including real-time data processing and decision-making, on cloud platforms to facilitate remote human–robot collaboration.
• Soft robotics: The design and development of robots made of soft and flexible materials to address the challenges of human–machine interactions, such as caregiving, surgery, rehabilitation, prosthetics, soft suit exoskeletons, and more.

Dr. Peng Wang
Dr. Xinqi Fan
Dr. Ismail Adeniran
Dr. Jikai Wang
Dr. Li Guo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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