I will discuss some recent results obtained in collaboration with A. Figalli, S. Kim and H. Shahgholian. We consider minimizers of the Dirichlet energy among maps constrained to take values outside a smooth domain $O$ in $\mathbb{R}^m$. These minimizers can be thought of either as solutions of a vectorial obstacle problem, or as harmonic maps into the manifold-with-boundary given by the complement of $O$. I will discuss results concerning the regularity of the minimizers, the location of their singularities, and the structure of the free boundary.