SERVICE AND INTERACTIVE ROBOTICS (A TAPUS, SECTION EDITOR) Discovery Report Following 5 Years of Research Project on Socially Assistive Robotics Ioana Ocnarescu 1 & Isabelle Cossin 1 Accepted: 8 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract Purpose of Review This study contributes to the field of socially assistive robotics (SAR). We focus our research on the perception and projections of SAR and the interconnections between their tasks, roles, appearances, and behaviors. We explore how humanoid and non-humanoid appearance and behavior influence people’s expectations and roles they give to robots. We also tackle broader questions related to projections, identification, and interpretations of SAR in everyday life. Recent Findings Regarding robots’ roles, first studies on the “robotic etiquette” showed that older population saw companion robots as butlers, disabled people see robots as assistants, and only young participants gave roles as being a friend. Even if SAR has as main goal the rehabilitation or medical care, the devices built in this field will also enter people’s homes. Based on appearance and intention scenarios of human-robot experiences, design researchers propose opportunities of projection and discussions and push the human-robot interaction (HRI) community to taking into consideration the more subtle and unspoken needs, values, and expectations on social robots. A larger perspective should be considered in order to deeply understand how to well-design SAR for people and society. Summary This report presents the results of qualitative and quantitative experimentations in a 5-year research project on socially assistive robotics—Romeo consortium. We conducted a mixed study on 72 participants on the perception, projection, and identification of three robot representations (2 humanoid and one non-humanoid). Results show strong correlations between the appearance, behavior, and roles of the robot representations. Keywords Socially assistive robotics . Design approach . Robot appearance . Robot role . Mixed study . Living with robots Introduction Designers draw forms and imagine scenarios with future tech- nology; they propose ways of living and human experiences but they also bring a shift from thinking about applications to showing complex implications of technology in our daily lives [1]. Sometimes these implications show an in situ critique of the technology and show that possible scenarios are not al- ways desirables ones. This report underlines the findings supported by design in a 5-year project, Romeo—a research platform suitable for testing possible service uses that could be included in future robot companions, specialized in supporting elderly or disabled persons. In another paper [2•], we show the value of design and designers in this project: designing new concepts of social robots (like Anubis that will be briefly presented further on), building prototypes (from cardboard prototypes to 3D printed 1:1 scale mockups), and inventing new ways to address users’ needs and expectations. During the Romeo project, designers also supported the implementation of quantitative and quali- tative studies on three robot representations and opened an in situ discussion on human-robot interaction and design. One of these studies was conducted on 72 persons living in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers in France to understand the differences of perception and roles people attributed to the different robot representations. To contribute to the implica- tions of what means living with social robots as global in situ experience, this paper focuses on this comparative study. This article is part of the Topical Collection on Service and Interactive Robotics * Ioana Ocnarescu i.ocnarescu@strate.design Isabelle Cossin i.cossin@strate.design 1 Strate School of Design, Sèvres, France https://doi.org/10.1007/s43154-020-00031-4 / Published online: 22 October 2020 Current Robotics Reports (2020) 1:269–278