Plan-Based Control of Joint Human-Robot Activities

Cognition in technical systems is especially relevant for the interaction with humans. We present a newly emerging application for autonomous robots: companion robots that are not merely machines performing tasks for humans, but assistants that achieve joint goals with humans. This collaborative aspect entails specific challenges for AI and robotics. In this article, we describe several planning and action-related problems for human-robot collaboration and point out the challenges to implement cognitive robot assistants.