Advances and Challenges in Robot Social Navigation - ECMR 2025

As robots are becoming increasingly present in our daily lives, ensuring their social acceptance is emerging as one of the most crucial challenges.

For autonomous robotic systems to truly coexist with humans, they must not only navigate safely, but also take into account the comfort of both the users and the people around them.

This was the topic addressed yesterday by one of our Robotics SW Engineers, Antonio Marangi, during the workshop AC-RSN 2025: “Advances and Challenges in Robot Social Navigation”, held at Università degli Studi di Padova within the European Conference on Mobile Robots.

The workshop brought together leading experts in mobile service robotics, social navigation, machine learning and human-robot interaction to explore the latest advancements and challenges in the field.

Discussions focused on the practical applications of robotic navigation in human-populated environments, and on strategies to enhance navigation by equipping robots with the ability to: perceive, interpret and adapt to complex social dynamics; coexist safely with humans; predict human trajectories and recognize social cues; and optimize navigation paths in real time.

A special thank you goes to Mauro Martini, Andrea Eirale and Marcello Chiaberge from PIC4SeR - Politecnico di Torino Interdepartmental Centre for Service Robotics for their continuous contribution to our joint project “EMPATHY – Empathetic Mobility Platform with Autonomous TecHnologY”.