Over the past decade, Extended Reality (XR), including Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality, gained attention as a research instrument in human-robot interaction studies, but remains underexplored in empirical investigations of social robotics. To map the field, we systematically reviewed empirical studies from 2015 to 2025. Of 6,527 peer-reviewed articles, only 33 met strict inclusion criteria. We examined (1) how XR and virtual social robots are used, focusing on the software and hardware employed and the application contexts in which they are deployed, (2) data collection and analysis methods, (3) demographics of the researchers and participants, and (4) the challenges and future directions. Our findings show that social XR-HRI research is still driven by laboratory simulations, while crucial specifications - such as the hardware, software, and robots used - are often not reported. Robots typically act as passive and hardly interactive visual stimulus, while the rich biosignal (e.g., eye-tracking) and logging (e.g. motion capturing) functions of modern head-mounted displays remain largely untapped. While there are gaps in demographic reporting, the research teams and samples are predominantly tech-centric, Western, young, and male. Key limitations include hardware delays, small homogeneous samples, and short study cycles. We propose a four-phase roadmap to establish social XR-HRI as a reliable research medium, which includes (1) strengthen application contexts, (2) more robust and testable technological iterations, (3) embedding diversity in samples and research teams, and (4) the need for reporting standards, e.g., in form of a suitable taxonomy. Advancing in these directions is essential for XR to mature from a lab prototype into an ecologically valid research instrument for social robotics.

翻译：过去十年间，扩展现实（XR），包括虚拟现实、增强现实和混合现实，作为人机交互研究工具受到关注，但在社交机器人学的实证研究中仍未被充分探索。为描绘该领域现状，我们对2015年至2025年的实证研究进行了系统性综述。在6,527篇同行评审文章中，仅有33篇符合严格的纳入标准。我们考察了：（1）XR与虚拟社交机器人的应用方式，重点关注所采用的软硬件及其部署的应用场景；（2）数据收集与分析方法；（3）研究者与参与者的人口统计学特征；（4）现存挑战与未来方向。研究发现：社交XR-HRI研究仍以实验室模拟为主导，而硬件、软件及所用机器人等关键技术参数常未被充分报告；机器人通常仅作为被动且交互性薄弱的视觉刺激存在，现代头戴式显示器丰富的生物信号（如眼动追踪）与日志记录（如动作捕捉）功能尚未被充分利用。尽管人口统计学报告存在缺失，研究团队与样本仍呈现以技术为中心、西方主导、年轻化及男性为主的同质化特征。主要局限包括硬件延迟、样本量小且同质性强、研究周期短暂。我们提出建立社交XR-HRI可靠研究媒介的四阶段路线图：（1）强化应用场景构建；（2）开发更稳健且可测试的技术迭代方案；（3）在研究样本与团队中嵌入多样性；（4）建立报告规范（例如通过构建适用分类法）。推进这些方向对XR从实验室原型发展为具有生态效度的社交机器人学研究工具至关重要。