Introduction

This chapter introduces the key concept of this work, namely the concept of the Intentional Stance. It describes the origins of the concept and how it has been addressed in the context of human–robot interaction. It explores the theoretical and practical impact of understanding whether and under what conditions people adopt the Intentional Stance towards humanoid robots, as well as the potential ethical implications of designing robots that evoke the adoption of the Intentional Stance in the human user. The chapter continues with a summary of the content of the book, focusing on the four main factors that have been identified as potentially contributing to the likelihood of adopting the Intentional Stance towards robots, namely the human observer, the observed robot, the interaction between the two, and a cultural context. It also summarizes the interviews that have been conducted with prominent academics in the field, and that are included in this book. The chapter concludes by introducing the humanoid iCub, which has been the main robot involved in most of the empirical studies described in this book.