[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-82466-en":3,"doc-seo-82466-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},82466,1099513958607,"Jiven","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002390cf8733938c?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778829742770036399",8,"Research & Report","Stop Pretending Social Robots Are Inevitable","This paper challenges recurring conference narratives in RO-MAN and HRI that portray a future human–robot society as inevitable. Treating the outcome as a fait accompli is argued to steer user studies toward any imaginable scenario, regardless of ecological relevance, and to elevate scenario design over developing robots’ capabilities for the intended social role. It also deprioritizes work grounded in actual societal needs and technical development, especially for robots as social agents. The paper proposes redirecting attention to cognitive mechanisms underlying the “I” in HRI.","Stop Pretending Social Robots Are Inevitable  \nSerge Thill  \nDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour Radboud University Nijmegen 6525GD Nijmegen, The Netherlands  \n[serge.thill@donders.ru.nl](serge.thill@donders.ru.nl)  \narXiv :2607 .00142v1 [ cs .RO] 30 Jun 2026  \nAbstract—This paper takes issue with the recent themes of both the RO-MAN and the HRI conferences for their portrayal of a future human-robot society as inevitable. The focus is on discussing how such statements ultimately shape research. By treating a future human-robot society as a faitaccompli, license is given for user studies to imagine any scenario they like, no matter whether it has any ecological relevance, and to emphasise the scenario design over actually creating robot abilities needed to fullfill the imagined role. Meanwhile, research that focusses on actual societal needs, without assuming that robots are a solution, is deprioritised, as is technical development, in particular with respect to abilities that are necessary to enable robots that function as social agents rather than a mere automation of tasks. A frame that simply assumes a robot future not only detracts from scientific advancement in favour of a techno-solutionism we ought to resist, it is also self-defeating as it risks stifling the research needed to bring it about. We should therefore reject attempts to frame and promote the field in terms of the inevitable social robot and instead focus on one that facilitates advances in the field regardless of what the future holds. This paper suggests that a renewed focus on cognitive mechanisms necessary for the “I” in HRI would be a good starting point.  \nI. INTRODUCTION  \nWe need to talk about the assumption that a future humanrobot society is inevitable. The theme of this very conference is “Realizing Human-Robot Symbiosis with AI.” and the accompanying blurb 1 reads (emphases added):  \nAs robots become increasingly capable of socially interacting with people, it is important to think about how we can shape a future in which humans and robots collaborate and work together as teammates. Rather than replacing us, our vision is that robots will complement us. We envision a hybrid intelligence where robots and humans together can be more capable, effective, productive, efficient, and enjoyable to work with. To realize a successful integration of socially interactive robots into our society, we need to invest in a future where human–robot teams become prevalent.  \nTo this end, we aim to create a clear vision of this future and foster innovations in interaction models, social capabilities, and robot skills that help robots understand how they can work together with us.  \n1Retrieved on February 5 from [https://ro-man2026.org/call-for-papers/](https://ro-man2026.org/call-for-papers/)  \nNote the assertions (in bold) that assume a need for robots rather than ask if there is one. In the field more broadly, this is not a one-off. Another HRI (the field) conference, HRI (the conference), had a very similar theme, likewise simply assuming the societal benefit of robots (“Empowering Society”) and a statement2 centred on how to best convince society to accept the field’s techno-solutionist view:  \nOur field has the potential to bring about positive change in many areas of our societies such as healthcare, transport, remote working, agriculture and industry. However, this change cannot happen if we do not engage properly with the end users who will potentially utilize robots in their jobs and daily lives.  \nFor this reason, HRI 2026 will focus on: 1) how we can ethically integrate robots in everyday processes without creating disruptions or inequalities, carefully thinking at the future of work and services; 2) how we can make them accessible to the general public (in terms of design, technical literacy and cost) with the final aim to make robots more willingly adopted as technological helpers.  \nThe HRI conference first used a theme that stated th","cbCaifpzbsLtWCpe","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifpzbsLtWCpe","pdf",123822,1,7,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Conference narratives and the inevitability assumption\n## Consequences for research priorities","[{\"question\":\"What core claim does the paper challenge about social robots?\",\"answer\":\"The paper argues against the assumption that a future human-robot society is inevitable.\"},{\"question\":\"How does treating a robot future as inevitable affect research choices?\",\"answer\":\"It encourages user studies to pursue any scenario they like, even without ecological relevance, and it prioritizes scenario design over building necessary robot abilities.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the paper say becomes deprioritized when robots are assumed to be a solution?\",\"answer\":\"Research focused on real societal needs and technical development—particularly abilities needed for robots to function as social agents rather than task automation—is 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