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Robot Handshake in Space

Pre-recorded talk | THEORY II

This video is not available any longer from this site; check the author’s personal websites for any additional postings;  the paper will appear in the RP2020 Proceedings in December

Authors

Chris Chesher, University of Sidney (AU)

 

Dr Chris Chesher is Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. He researches and teaches the social and cultural aspects of emerging digital media technologies. A current research project is the cultural anatomy of robots, giving a cultural history to mechatronic components as they are translated into social agency. He is also studying smart street furniture with attention to applications of robotics technologies in public space. His approach draws from media studies, philosophy of technology, science and technology studies and cultural studies.

David Silvera-Tawil, Australian e-Health Research Centre CSIRO (AU)

 

 

Dr David Silvera-Tawil is a Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre. He is a robotics researcher working in the fields of digital health and human-robot interaction. His ongoing research focus is to expand current understanding of human-robot interaction within a socially assistive context, including the design, development, delivery, implementation and evaluation of e-health services. His specialties are in the areas of: Autism, socially-assistive robotics, the autonomous interpretation of human behaviour using machine learning techniques and tactile sensing for robotics applications. David has published multiple articles in leading refereed international journals, book chapters and international conference and workshops.

Full Title

Robot Handshake in Space: Touch and Liveness-To-Hand in Human-Technology Relations

Abstract

In February 2012 Robonaut R2 and Dan Burbank performed the first human-humanoid handshake in space. The handshake welcomed R2 as a crew member, engaging with the robot as a social agent rather than just a thing to be examined or controlled. In this sense, in Heidegger’s terms, it is experienced neither theoretically as present-at-hand nor practically as ready-to-hand. We argue that it is instead experienced live-to-hand, given respect as an other. As such R2 is capable not only of executing programs, but also playing its part in socially choreographed rituals and everyday performances within a social gestalt.