Advances in Cognitive Robotics and Control

Dear Colleagues,

Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are two research areas that have historically addressed the challenge (among others) of building embedded intelligent systems capable of acting in a real-world environment. A synergetic interaction between these two disciplines is necessary in the development and deployment of robots that safely and reliably act in the real world. Furthermore, contributions from cognitive science are necessary in supporting “social qualities” and implementing socially compliant behaviors that are acceptable to humans. This is especially true when considering scenarios that entail the co-existence and/or continuous direct or indirect interactions with humans. The presence of humans indeed introduces a significant source of uncertainty which can affect robot control. The behavior of a human is unpredictable, including their intentions, desires, and objectives. Robot controllers cannot reliably predict human behaviors, and should therefore synthesize suitable strategies to safely perform actions. Robot controllers should take into account the “non-functional” qualities of implemented behaviors, thus evolving towards an advanced “Perception, Reason, Act” paradigm which can achieve a higher level of awareness and behavior contextualization. Cognitive robotics is wide research area, fostering the interaction of robotics, AI,  and cognitive sciences in order to realize innovative and human-like robot behaviors. In this regard, this Special Issue aims to collect contributions in this multidisciplinary research landscape, highlighting recent trends, novel results, and open issues in the design of human and socially aware robot controllers.

Dr. Alessandro Umbrico
Dr. Daniel Beßler
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cognitive architectures
• human-robot interaction
• perspective taking
• cognitive robotics
• artificial intelligence
• situation awareness
• human and social awareness
• human intent/action recognition
• human belief modeling