The field of social robotics continues to blossom, with researchers from around the world making advances in develo** robots that can interact with humans in intuitive and sophisticated ways, as well as studying the multifaceted ramifications of social interactions between humans and robots. The International Journal of Social Robotics is proud to be a top venue for publishing the latest research in this field, and we are pleased to open the 15th volume of SORO and present the first issue of 2023.

The Editor-in-Chiefs of SORO, Serena Ivaldi, Agnieszka Wykowska and Oussama Khatib, would like to express their gratitude to all members of the International Advisory Board, the Managing Editors, Salvatore Anzalone and Jairo Perez-Osorio, the Associate Editors, the Guest Editors, the Editorial Team at Springer, the Editorial Assistants, the authors, and the reviewers for their continuous support, advice and contributions. We extend our warmest welcome to the new members of the Editorial Board who have joined us in the last year, and express our gratitude for the contribution to the journal to those who have left the board. In the new year, the Editorial Board remains committed to maintaining the journal's high standards, to provide authors with prompt and efficient feedback, and to further support the SORO community.

The 14th edition of the International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR) took place in Florence on the 13–15th of December 2022. The conference owes much of its success to the exceptional organization of Filippo Cavallo (General Chair), John-John Cabibihan (General Co-Chair), Shuzhi Sam Ge (Honorary Chair) and their local team: Pietro Benvenuti, Jaeseok Kim, Lorenzo Gori, Carlo La Viola, Michelangelo Guaitolini, Gianmaria Mancioppi, Olivia Nocentini (Local Arrangement Chairs) with MCR Conference and Convention Bureau Florence.

The success of the conference would not be possible without the collaborative efforts of the Program Chairs: Laura Fiorini, **aorui Liu, Yoshio Matsumoto; Workshop Chairs: Alessandro Sorrentino, Mariacarla Staffa; Competition Chairs: Elisabetta Cianfanelli, Amit Kumar Pandey; Publication Chairs: Hongsheng He, Erika Rovini, Alessandra Sorrentino; Publicity Chairs: **aopeng Zhao, Gabriele Trovato; the International Advisory Committee; the Standing Committee; the International Programme Committee, and last but not least, all editors and reviewers. The conference with the special theme “Social Robots for Assisted Living and Healthcare” was abundant in inspiring and exciting talks and workshops. The SORO Editorial Board was also present at the conference and finally gathered in person after many virtual meetings. We look forward to the next edition of ICSR!

For the present issue of SORO, we are pleased to introduce a collection of ten papers, which address a variety of exciting questions in social robotics, ranging from trust to collaboration, from anthropomorphism to nonverbal communication. We thank the authors for their innovative contributions, and we eagerly look forward to publishing more cutting-edge research in social robotics in the coming year and in the future.