With the proliferation of artificial intelligence technology, human interactions with AI-equipped robots are expected to become an increasing part of daily life. So, scientists and engineers are exploring paths to better human-robot relationships. Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Heni Ben Amor has led research using a humanoid remote-controlled robot to give hundreds of hugs to humans wearing sensors to collect data on their hugging experiences. The result is a human-robot hugging interaction data set that could aid efforts to train companion robots and have applications in robots used for assembly tasks, therapy and even entertainment. Details are reported in a recent research paper authored by Ben Amor and Fulton Schools doctoral students Kunal Bagewadi and Joseph Campbell, who work in Ben Amor’s Interactive Robotics Lab.