Patrick Grüneberg (1977), Dr. phil., associate professor at the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Kanazawa University, Japan). Received doctorate from Technical University of Berlin for developing a Fichtean account of consciousness in comparison with Metzinger’s self-model theory. Research about cognitive models of human and non-human subjectivity and agency, collaborative research with AI/robotic- and medical engineers on voluntary initiation of bodily movement, STS-research about empowerment in human-machine interaction.
The implementation of culturally sustainable social robotics (SR) puts high requirements on the design of social human-robot interaction. This paper proposes the concept of empowerment technology (ET) as a value-driven framework to advance the interlocking of human value and computational modeling. A capability-based model of the interactive unity of human and machine is introduced and applied to a robotic childcare system. This case study shows that culturally sustainable SR in terms of ET is possible if SR addresses the values held by local stakeholders and assures the support of human empowerment in terms of these values.
