Selma Sabanovic

This paper analyzes scientists’ discourses on the social impacts and acceptability of robotics, based on data collected through participant observation and interviews with robotics researchers in the US and Japan. It shows that a linear, technologically determinist, view of the interaction between robots and society is dominant in the field; in this narrative the social impact of robotic technologies derives mostly from their technological capabilities and the aim is for society to accept and adapt to technological innovations. The framework of mutual shaping and co-production, which explores the dynamic interaction between robotics and society, is proposed as an alternative perspective on the dynamics between society and technology and a framework for envisioning and evaluating social robots. This approach focuses on analyzing how social and cultural factors influence the way technologies are designed …

Using interviews, participant observation, and published documents, this article analyzes the co-construction of robotics and culture in Japan through the technical discourse and practices of robotics researchers. Three cases from current robotics research – the seal-like robot PARO, the Humanoid Robotics Project HRP-2 humanoid, and ‘kansei robotics’ – show the different ways in which scientists invoke culture to provide epistemological grounding and possibilities for social acceptance of their work. These examples show how the production and consumption of social robotic technologies are associated with traditional crafts and values, how roboticists negotiate among social, technical, and cultural constraints while designing robots, and how humans and robots are constructed as cultural subjects in social robotics discourse. The conceptual focus is on the repeated assembly of cultural models of social behavior …

Based on the results of an online survey conducted with participants in South Korea (N= 73), Turkey (N= 46), and the United States (N= 99), we show that people's perceptions and preferences regarding acceptable designs and uses for robots are culturally variable on a number of dimensions, including general attitudes towards robots, preferences for robot form, interactivity, intelligence, and sociality. We also explore correlations between these design and use characteristics and factors cited as having an effect on user perceptions and acceptance of robots, such as religious beliefs and media exposure. Our research suggests that culturally variable attitudes and preferences toward robots are not simply reducible to these factors, rather they relate to more specific social dynamics and norms. In conclusion, we discuss potential design and research implications of culturally variable and universally accepted user …

As robots move into everyday environments, we need to understand both the social and the technical constraints and affordances for human-robot interaction. We use in situ evaluation of partially functioning prototypes to inform the design of robotic technologies that fit their intended contexts of use and illustrate this method through a case study of iteratively designing a desktop robot for break management in a computerized office. After an initial exploratory study of the office as context of use, we used comparative semi-controlled evaluations of multiple design alternatives to explore how different robot characteristics, specifically embodiment and social interactivity, are perceived by users and affect their break taking. We found evaluating simple prototypes with varying levels of functionality, even when not robust or" complete," provides opportunities for including users in the design process and for identifying …

This study explores deriving minimal features for a robotic face to convey information (via facial expressions) that people can perceive and understand. Recent research in computer vision has shown that a small number of moving points/lines can be used to capture the majority of information (<svg aria-label=" ∼ " class="gs_fsvg" height="5px" style="vertical-align:0px;" width="19px"><g transform="matrix(0.01400, 0.00000, 0.00000, 0.01400, 0.00000, 5.13800)"><g><g><path d="M 143 272 Q 121 272 115 324 V 336 Q 115 494 209 623 T 455 752 Q 549 752 625 705 T 805 566 T 977 430 T 1137 387 Q 1218 387 1282 431 T 1382 548 T 1419 700 Q 1425 752 1448 752 Q 1471 752 1477 700 V 688 Q 1477 589 1435 492 T 1317 333 T 1137 272 Q 1043 272 970 316 T 794 453 T 618 591 T 455 637 Q 375 637 310 593 T 208 476 T 172 324 Q 166 272 143 272 Z " transform="matrix(0.48828, 0.00000, 0.00000, -0.48828, 277.77780, 0.00000)"></path></g></g></g></svg>95 %) in human facial expressions. Here, we apply such findings to a minimalist robot face design, which was run through a series of experiments with human subjects (n = 75) exploring the effect of various factors, including added neck motion and degree of expression. Facial expression identification rates were similar to more complex robots. In addition, added neck motion significantly improved facial expression identification rates to 100 % for all expressions (except Fear). The Negative Attitudes towards Robots (NARS) and Godspeed scales were also collected to examine user perceptions, e.g. perceived …

This paper presents the results of research aimed at developing a methodology for the participatory design of social robots, which are meant to be incorporated into various social contexts (e.g. home, work) and establish social relations with people. In contrast to the dominant technologically driven robot development process, we aim to develop a socially robust and responsible approach to robot design using Participatory Design (PD) methods. The PD process builds on participants' self-identified issues and concerns, and develops robot concepts according to participants' interpretations of the capabilities and potential applications of robotic technologies. We present methodological insights from an ongoing PD project aimed at designing socially assistive robots with older adults diagnosed with depression and their therapists, and identify remaining challenges in this project. We particularly focus on supporting …

We use the ''social shaping of technology and society'' framework to qualitatively analyze data collected through observation of human-robot interaction (HRI) between social actors ina nursing home (staff, residents, visitors) and the socially assistive robot PARO. The study took place over the course of three months, during which PARO was placed in a publicly accessibly space where participants could interact with it freely. Social shaping focuses attention on social factors that affect the use and interpretation of technology in particular contexts. We therefore aimed to understand how different social actors make sense of and use PARO in daily interaction. Our results show participant gender, social mediation, and individual sense making led to differential use and interpretation of the robot, which affected the success of human-robot interactions. We also found that exposure to others interacting with PARO affected …

In this paper, we argue that cultural robotics should be grounded in a critical approach that acknowledges the co-construction of culture and scientific practice and technology design, as well as the dynamic nature of culture and its role in shaping human cognition and social interaction. We suggest this can be done in two ways: 1) by making the robot design process more culturally reflexive and inclusive of the perspectives of diverse stakeholders, and 2) by designing robots to be sensitive and adaptable to salient cultural values and practices, rather than designing robots for specific cultures. Building on these two key points, we suggest an approach based on culturally robust robotics.

In everyday applications of robotics, people will likely interact with groups of robots. Most human-robot interaction (HRI) research to date, however, has studied humans interacting with individual robots. Initial research suggests that humans respond differently to individual robots and robots in groups, making responses to groups of robots critical to study. This paper presents a study performed in a public setting familiar to participants (university cafeterias) to examine how participants respond when robots, individually and in groups, enter their space. We examined participant survey and behavioral responses to different numbers of robots (Single or Group) with different behaviors (Social or Functional). Because robots will be used across cultures, we performed the study in Japan and the USA. Across cultures, we found that people interact more with robots in groups than single robots, yet report similar levels of liking for both; participants also rated social robots as more friendly and helpful than functional robots in general. They rated single social robots more positively than a group of social robots, but a group of functional robots more positively than single functional robots. Japanese participants reported liking the robots more than USA participants. This suggests that researchers and designers should be aware of how robot characteristics influence group effects.

The goal of introducing robots into everyday use has led to their reconceptualization as social technologies, for which interacting with people is a fundamental and necessary function. Robot sociality in this context is generally defined as a set of individual properties of the artifact, such as a human-like appearance or the ability to read social cues. In this paper, we propose an alternative view of robot sociality as an emergent relational property of the interactions between the robot and its social context, actively constructed by designers, users, and other actors affected by robots. We illustrate this perspective through the example of the robot PARO, a commercial social robot commonly used in eldercare, which we analyzed in a series of observational studies of the social processes of its design in the laboratory and its use in an eldercare facility. Our analysis shows how the robot as a social technology is …

A key research challenge in robotics is to design robotic systems with the cognitive capabilities necessary to support human–robot interaction. These systems will need to have appropriate representations of the world; the task at hand; the capabilities, expectations, and actions of their human counterparts; and how their own actions might affect the world, their task, and their human partners. Cognitive human–robot interaction is a research area that considers human(s), robot(s), and their joint actions as a cognitive system and seeks to create models, algorithms, and design guidelines to enable the design of such systems. Core research activities in this area include the development of representations and actions that allow robots to participate in joint activities with people; a deeper understanding of human expectations and cognitive responses to robot …

Early experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are important for getting youth interested in STEM fields, particularly for girls. Here, we explore how an after-school robotics club can provide informal STEM experiences that inspire students to engage with STEM in the future. Human-centered robotics, with its emphasis on the social aspects of science and technology, may be especially important for bringing girls into the STEM pipeline. Using a problem-based approach, we designed two robotics challenges. We focus here on the more extended second challenge, in which participants were asked to imagine and build a telepresence robot that would allow others to explore their space from a distance. This research follows four girls as they engage with human-centered telepresence robotics design. We constructed case studies of these target participants to explore their different …

Over the last decade, the idea that robots could become an integral part of groups and teams has developed from a promising vision into a reality. Robots are increasingly designed to interact with groups and teams of people, yet most human-robot interaction research still focuses on a single humans interacting with a single robot. The goal for the workshop is therefore to advance research in computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and human robot interaction (HRI) by raising awareness for the social and technical challenges that surround the placement of robots within work-groups and teams. The workshop will be organized around three central questions:(1) How do robots shape the dynamics of groups and teams in existing settings?(2) How does a robot's behavior shape how humans interact with each other in dyads and in larger groups and teams?(3) How can robots improve the performance of work …

This paper discusses the use of observational studies of human-robot social interaction in open human-inhabited environments as a method for improving on the design and evaluating the interactive capabilities of social robots. First, we discuss issues that have surfaced in attempts to evaluate social interactions between humans and robots. Next, we review two observational studies involving robots interacting socially with humans and discuss how the results can be applied to improving robot design. The first is an analysis of a mobile conference-attending robot that performed a search task by augmenting its perception through social interaction with human attendees. The second is an analysis of a stationary robotic receptionist that provides information to visitors and enhances interaction through story-telling. Through these examples, we show how observational studies can be applied to human-robot social …