Welcome to the Workshop on Interfacing the Human and the Robot (IHR), organized in the framework of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2008), that will be held in Kobe, Japan, on May 12 - 17, 2009. The Workshop will take place on May 12th, 2009 at the Kobe International Conference Center (Kobe Convention Center).

The history of robotics is one of ever closer interaction with the human actor. The current scenario is one of transition from the industrial workplace towards increasing interaction with the human operator in other scenarios. This means that interaction with humans is expanding from a mere exchange of information (in teleoperation tasks) and service robotics to a close interaction involving physical and cognitive modalities. The concept of Wearable Robots (WRs), as person-oriented robots comprising prosthetic devices and exoskeletons, has emerged. The symbiotic relationship between humans and robots transcends the boundaries of simple physical interaction. It involves smart sensors, actuators, algorithms and control strategies capable of gathering and decoding complex human expressions or physiological phenomena. Robots use the information to adapt, learn and optimize their functions, or even to transmit back a response resulting from a cognitive process occurring within the robot. It is in this context that interfacing modalities play a crucial role. This full-day workshop will thoroughly address the analysis of interfacing modalities between humans and robots with a particular focus in rehabilitation, assistive and personal robots.