The concept of transitional objects from the British Object Relations school of psychoanalysis may offer insight into the affective aspects of the development of dyadic and triadic interactions. Furthermore the concept may be applied to the use of social robotics in autism research and therapy, with social robots in these settings perhaps functioning as transitional objects for autistic children. Possible applications in organizational contexts are suggested as well, along with considerations of future research relating transitional objects to the notions of primary and secondary intersubjectivity.

Metaphoric classification of social interaction in human-robot teams can provide a useful frame for directing robot-human engagement while assisting the robot in sense-making of dynamic world behaviors. This paper describe a framework built from principles of embodiment to show how members of teams are not separated from their world, but make sense and interact in a world via a continuous (rather than causal) flow of engagement facilitated by two forms of perception. In this context, we distinguish between direct and reflective perception, arguing that agents socially engage via these modalities of perception through body, language, and context. We then argue that these forms of perception can direct the use of metaphors. The metaphors, in turn, act as classification frames for robot social intelligence using established human schemas. INTRODUCTIONAs robots are being integrated into more work settings, it is increasingly evident that robust frameworks and taxonomies for facilitating social integration are needed. We propose that what is needed is an approach which uses metaphors for human interaction to advance-robot social interaction. Research can explore the utility of metaphors derived from social-cognitive interaction research. Metaphor has been the subject of studies in human interaction with the world (). However, inquiry into the application of metaphor in realms of advanced technology can be expanded to serve human-robot teams in a more useful way. An important shift would be to use metaphoric classifications, as drawn from the metaphors humans create through embodied interaction with the world, to support robot social engagement. This expands the application of metaphor which guides the human in robot usability to an application which can inform foster superior design which will direct the robot's interactions with other agents.We draw from empirical and theoretical sources to distinguish between the embodied processes associated with perception. In the first section of this paper, we will argue that the immediate sensory-driven perception, or direct perception, is distinct and yet intertwined with reflective perception, which is the perception of things which require more cognitive processes. In the second section, we describe how these forms of perception help humans determine saliency and can act as models for robot situational assessment. We argue that reflective and direct perception modalities allow humans to distinguish between levels of importance in interaction, which, in turn, clarifies the assignment of the most appropriate metaphor for interpreting situational interactions. Finally, we close this overview with a brief discussion of the application and implication of the metaphoric inference model. FORMS OF PERCEPTION

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The concept of transitional objects from the British Object Relations school of psychoanalysis may offer insight into the affective aspects of the development of dyadic and triadic interactions. Furthermore the concept may be applied to the use of social robotics in autism research and therapy, with social robots in these settings perhaps functioning as transitional objects for autistic children. Possible applications in organizational contexts are suggested as well, along with considerations of future research relating transitional objects to the notions of primary and secondary intersubjectivity.

No abstract