Research Hotspots and Trends of Social Robot Interaction Design: A Bibliometric Analysis

(1) Background: The social robot interaction design is critical in determining acceptance and user experience. However, few studies have systematically discussed the current focus and future research directions of social robot interaction design from a bibliometric perspective. Therefore, in order to identify the latest research progress and evolution trajectory of research hotspots in social robot interaction design over the last decade. (2) Methods: based on 2416 papers related to social robot interaction design collected in the Web of Science (WOS) database, a comprehensive review was conducted by using bibliometrics to draw a knowledge map using VOSviewer and CiteSpace in an integrated manner. (3) Conclusions: The current research hotspots of social robot interaction design mainly focus on #1the study of human-robot relationships in social robot, #2Research on the Emotional Design of Social Robot, #3research on social robot for children's psychotherapy, #4research on companion robot for elderly rehabilitation, and #5research on educational social robot. The reference co-citation identifies the classic literature that forms the basis of the current research, which provides theoretical guidance and methods for the current research. Finally, we discuss several future research directions and challenges in this field.