  HRI researchers have made major strides in developing robotic architectures
that are capable of reading a limited set of social cues and producing
behaviors that enhance their likeability and feeling of comfort amongst humans.
However, the cues in these models are fairly direct and the interactions
largely dyadic. To capture the normative qualities of interaction more
robustly, we propose consent as a distinct, critical area for HRI research.
Convening important insights in existing HRI work around topics like touch,
proxemics, gaze, and moral norms, the notion of consent reveals key
expectations that can shape how a robot acts in social space. By sorting
various kinds of consent through social and legal doctrine, we delineate
empirical and technical questions to meet consent challenges faced in major
application domains and robotic roles. Attention to consent could show, for
example, how extraordinary, norm-violating actions can be justified by agents
and accepted by those around them. We argue that operationalizing ideas from
legal scholarship can better guide how robotic systems might cultivate and
sustain proper forms of consent.
