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In the future, our environment might be populated by new artificial beings: robots. Although interest in robotics is increasing, the perception of these new agents and the impact of their presence on our society remains paradoxically understudied. In this review, through multidisciplinary literature, we propose to reveal the processes underlying the perception of robots through the concept of anthropomorphism, that is, the attribution of human characteristics to non-humans. Thus, we propose to identify the determinants that can act as a modulator of this perception through the motivating and inhibiting factors of anthropomorphism. Finally, we develop the perception of robots and the attribution of human characteristics through the experience of social interaction with these new artificial agents. Considering the rise of robotics today, especially social robotics, it seems necessary to examine the perception of robots as valid social agents and the evolution of the perceived distance between robots and humans, introducing a new conceptualization of these future artificial social agents.