A Decade of Human-Robot Interaction through Immersive Lenses: A Literature Review on Extended Reality as a Research Instrument in Social Robotics
A review of 6,527 studies found only 33 valid papers on using VR/AR for social robot research.
Deep Dive
Researchers André Helgert, Carolin Straßmann, and Sabrina C. Eimler published a literature review analyzing a decade (2015-2025) of Extended Reality (XR) use in social robotics research. Their systematic review of 6,527 articles found only 33 met strict criteria. Key findings show research is lab-bound, uses robots as passive stimuli, underutilizes biosensors like eye-tracking, and suffers from small, homogenous (young, male, Western) samples. They propose a 5-phase roadmap to improve ecological validity.
Why It Matters
Highlights a major gap in how we test human-robot interaction, which could slow down the development of useful social robots.