Reframing Human-Robot Interaction Through Extended Reality: Unlocking Safer, Smarter, and More Empathic Interactions with Virtual Robots and Foundation Models

This paper proposes a new perspective on human-robot interaction by leveraging extended reality (XR) and virtual robots powered by large foundation models. It argues that these XR-native agents can act as cognitively grounded, empathic mediators, supporting safety-critical scenarios and enabling scalable, adaptable interactions unbound by physical hardware limitations. It also outlines challenges like bias and privacy.