This recommended practice defines a structured framework for identifying, assessing, and mitigating relational risks arising from sustained human–robot interaction (HRI) in socially and developmentally sensitive environments. This recommended practice applies to robotic systems that: exhibit physical embodiment, including movement, gaze, gesture, or vocal expression; engage in repeated or ongoing social interaction with individuals over time; and operate in domestic, family, educational, child-facing, caregiving, or other informal relational contexts. This recommended practice addresses relational risks including: over-attachment, emotional dependency, and parasocial (one-sided) bonding; role ambiguity between robotic systems and human caregivers or authority figures; behavioral influence, moral delegation, and normative shaping; social displacement or substitution of human relationships; and anthropomorphisation-induced misattribution, including design- or language-driven attribution of human qualities that inflate expectations, encourage inappropriate attachment, or obscure accountability. This recommended practice does not apply to: industrial automation or manufacturing robotics; non-embodied software agents without sustained social interaction capabilities; or military, law enforcement, or surveillance applications.
- Standard Committee
- SSIT/SC - Social Implications of Technology Standards Committee
- Status
- Active PAR
- PAR Approval
- 2026-06-04
Working Group Details
- Society
- IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology
- Standard Committee
- SSIT/SC - Social Implications of Technology Standards Committee
- Working Group
-
RHRI-WG - Safety and Trust in Relationships in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Working Group
- IEEE Program Manager
- Malia Zaman
Contact Malia Zaman - Working Group Chair
- Sara Filipcic
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