In recent years, social robots have moved from experimental visions to tangible implementations in education, healthcare, therapy, and everyday support. Their ability to sense and respond through multi-modal channels, including voice, movement, haptics, bio-signals, gestures and facial expressions, positions social robots as promising companions for well-being. This trend aligns with a growing societal interest in non-clinical health interventions and inclusive technologies that enhance resilience, autonomy, and improve quality of life. Social robots are increasingly being used to support interventions aimed at stress reduction, emotional regulation, and physical exercise. While progress has been made, further research is needed to understand how these multi-modal social robots for wellbeing and health support can be ethically designed, inclusively applied, and effectively evaluated across diverse contexts and populations.

The aim of this Research Topic is to bring together interdisciplinary contributions that explore the role of multi-modal, physically embodied social robots in supporting human health and well-being. We seek to investigate how such robots can be designed, developed, and integrated into real-world environments to support practices to support human health and well-being. The goal is to go beyond medical and clinical applications to focus on non-invasive, preventive, and supportive interventions that promote health, well-being, quality of life and emotional resilience. Unlike virtual agents or purely digital systems, physically embodied robots operate in shared spaces, enabling richer, embodied, and sensor-based forms of interaction. This Research Topic seeks to highlight new advances in technologies and methods that strengthen emotional, cognitive, and somatic well-being, and to provide insights into responsible, human-centered, and explainable innovations in human–robot interaction.

This Research Topic invites original research, systematic reviews, design studies, conceptual frameworks, and interdisciplinary perspectives addressing the role of multi-modal social robots in supporting health and well-being. Relevant fields include human–robot interaction, affective computing, cognitive science, health informatics, psychology, design, and ethics.

We welcome contributions on:
+ Theoretical contributions advancing conceptual models or frameworks
+ Design and evaluation of multi-modal interaction strategies for stress reduction, mindfulness, or therapeutic support.
+ Robot-assisted interventions for breathing, somatic practices, and emotion regulation.
+ Integration of bio-sensing and affective computing into social robots.
+ User-centered and inclusive design approaches for social robots as well-being technologies.
+ Ethical, cultural, and privacy considerations in real-world deployments.
+ Empirical field studies, participatory design and experimental evaluations.

Both technological advances and human-centered evaluations are encouraged. We particularly invite interdisciplinary work that connects robotics, psychology, health sciences, and AI to explore responsible and inclusive innovation. By collecting such contributions, this Research Topic aims to deepen our understanding of how social robots can serve as meaningful companions and support systems for physical, emotional, and mental well-being.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Multimodal Social Robots for Wellbeing and Health Support