Mind the Gap: When Robots Learn Social Norms the Human Way
A hotel robot does not need to understand the human soul. It does, however, need to stop cutting between two guests mid-conversation like an intern late for coffee. That distinction matters. Most enterprise conversations about autonomous agents still treat navigation as a logistics problem: reach the destination, avoid collision, minimise delay. Very tidy. Very spreadsheet. Also incomplete. In public-facing environments, a robot can be technically safe and still socially unpleasant. It can avoid hitting people while still making them step back, tense up, or wonder why the expensive machine has the spatial awareness of a supermarket trolley. ...