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Communication

Gunhild Borgreen

Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

“Robots cannot lie”: Performative Parasites of Robot-Human Theatre

The presentation reflects on theories of performative speech acts from the British philosopher of language J.L. Austin’s How To Do Things With Words (based on a series of lectures in the 1950s). Using Austin’s notion of “parasitic” language of an actor on the stage as a starting point, the paper analyses the Japanese Robot-Human Theatre production Hataraku Watashi (I, Worker) by Hirata Oriza and Ishiguro Hiroshi from 2008 as a site for investigating the complex layers of intention, effect and cultural conventions in human-robot interaction. Linking the fiction of the stage production to laboratory testings that include robots in simulated real-life situations, the notion of how robots “lie” are discussed in terms of different types of participants: theatre audiences and test persons. The presentation will focus on how the robot acts “parasitic” upon normal circumstances and thus points out the troubled notions of “normal” or “natural” in robot-human interaction, as well as in human-human interaction.

About the author: Gunhild Borgreen


Panel Session: Communication-theoretic issues in social robotics

Charles Ess

Department of Communication, University of Oslo

I will sketch the trajectory of our panel - namely, a beginning with Eleanor Sandry’s review and extension of communication theory so as to argue that "machine-like robots can be interpreted as social by humans.” Satomi Sugiyama and Nello Barile turn our attention to a second focus of social robotics, namely, “ubiquitous social roboting” as instantiated in algorithms that “automate” our emotions and taste as we consume music through our smartphones - meaning that we carry "traces of robots” throughout our daily lives. Finally, Michaela Pfadenhauer and Christoph Dukat report on their study of one of the most well-known of social robots - Paro - as used in eldercare, in order to illuminate larger questions of how to define a robotic technology and its development.   The panel will thus provide both a broad overview of contemporary research in social robotics, close attention to specific instantiations of social robots, and considerations of these vis-a-vis important theory in communication and philosophy of technology.  

Report 1:

Eleanor Sandry

Curtin University, Australia

Re-evaluating the form and communication of social robots.

I offer a re-evaluation of what constitutes a social robot by analysing how a range of different forms of robot are interpreted as socially aware and communicative. A critical assessment of the development of humanlike and animal-like robotic companions is juxtaposed with a consideration of human relations with machine-like robots in working partnerships or teams. The paper employs and extends a range of communication theories, alongside theories relating to anthropomorphism and zoomorphism, in considering humanrobot interactions. Although some traditions of communication theory offer perspectives that support the development of humanoid and animal-like social robots, these perspectives have been criticised by communication scholars as unethically closed to the possibilities of otherness and difference. Instead, this paper demonstrates how these and other traditions of communication can be reconfigured and extended to argue that even machine-like robots can be interpreted as social by humans. This contention is supported by analysing human relations with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robots and with the robotic desk lamp, AUR. The paper identifies social robotics research as important, not only in relation to robots that work together in swarms or groups and robots designed explicitly to act as social companions for people, but also for the development of working teams between humans and robots that are neither overtly humanoid nor animal-like.

Report 2:

Satomi Sugiyama, Nello Barile 

Franklin University Switzerland, Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione, Italy

The automation of taste: A consideration of social robots and mobile ICTs through a case analysis of Shazam and Spotify.

Today robotics and robotic functions are increasingly relevant to our everyday life. Although the notion of social robots tends to trigger the idea of autonomous machines such as humanoid and zoomorphic robots, it can be extended to include information and communication technologies (ICTs) [38]. The present paper seeks to describe the implications of the deepest penetration of the mobile ICTs in the everyday life through the miniaturization of Technologies as well as the cogent effect of software and new applications controlled by algorithms. As the smart phones and wearable gadgets continue to evolve and come closer to the human body, and also, transform from “a hard and Utilitarian conception to a softer ideal based on the emotional value of new devices” as a process of ontobranding [6, p. 102], this is an important and timely question to examine. In particular, this paper considers how the mobile ICTs such as a Smart phone has a power to shape, and furthermore, “automate” our emotions and Taste by exploring the case of widely-adopted music applications: Shazam and Spotify. Ultimately, it seeks to further understand the practice of “ubiquitous Social roboting” [19], arguing that the automation of the taste, facilitated by the smart phone and its applications and algorisms, leads to the human carrying some Traces of robots.

 Report 3:

Michaela Pfadenhauer and Christoph Dukat (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)

Technical Assistant or Assistance by Means of Technology? The Performative Deployment of the Social Robot PARO in Dementia Care.

Much has been written about the potential, the benefits, and the risks of social robotics. This paper is based on the view that what a technology actually is can be decided only when it is applied. Using as an exemplar the robot baby seal PARO, which is deployed in Germany mainly as activation therapy for elderly people with dementia, we begin by briefly explaining that it is by no means clear at the beginning of the development phase what a technology actually is. Rather, this is established in the light of, and in coordination with, the context of application. We then present some preliminary results from our ongoing study of the way in which this social robot is applied by carers in a nursing home for the elderly. The underlying theoretical assumption on which our study is based is that the appearance and the performative deployment of a technical artifact are interdependent. Only in combination with experiences – the experiences of others, imparted in diverse forms as knowledge, and first-hand experience of using the technology – are the form and technical functionality of the device of relevance to its appearance – that is, to what it is regarded as being. Our video-assisted ethnographic study of persons with dementia shows that, on the one hand, PARO is deployed performatively as an occasion for communication and a ‘communication partner’, and that on the other hand it is applied as an observation instrument.