As robots become increasingly present in human society, considerable gaps remain between expectations for the social roles these robots might play and their actual abilities.

Research examining social cognition when interacting with robots offers a promising avenue for understanding how best to introduce robots to complex social settings, such as in schools, hospitals, and at home.

Thanks to methodological advances in human neuroscience, such as mobile neuroimaging, human–robot interaction research is moving out of the laboratory and into the real world.