Hello all -- please circulate to your networks! (and apologies for any
cross-posting)
===
The iHuman Spring 2024 International Guest Seminar Series (Human Futures
theme) cordially invites you to join us for:
The Imperfectly Relatable Robot: a critical robotics approach to failures
in human-robot relations - Katherine Harrison, Department of Thematic
Studies – Gender Studies, Linköping University, Sweden
Wednesday, 20 March at 15:00 GMT (link to be circulated to attendees)
“Critical robotics” denotes a field that aims to address the tendency in
Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) towards relying on technical knowledge to
resolve the challenges of achieving social interactions with robots. In
particular, it aims to provide more “human-centered and holistic approaches
to question established assumptions of design in HRI research” (Serholt et
al 2022). It is an inherently interdisciplinary activity, which often
involves collaboration between social scientists and engineers or computers
scientists working “within” HRI.
In this presentation, I will talk about a critical robotics research
project titled “The ethics and consequences of AI and caring robots”
currently underway in Sweden. In particular, I want to share a sample from
my own work within the project which focuses on failure. Usually, research
to improve human-robot interactions in social robotics focuses on producing
a “positive” affective experience by exploring how to increase human
participants’ feelings of trust or safety. However, there is an emerging
interest amongst roboticists in the role played by robotic failures in
building more complex and nuanced relationships between humans and social
robots.
Robots fail often, in many and varied ways, some quite mundane, some more
significant. But this might not be a bad thing. What if encountering a
robot who fails, who is a little less “perfect”, might actually make it
more relatable and human-like? Bringing critical theory into conversation
with social robotics research, my project explores how failure might be
used to improve human-robot relations.
Bio: Katherine Harrison is Associate Professor in Gender Studies at
Linköping University. Her research sits at the intersection of Science &
Technology Studies, media studies, and feminist theory, bringing critical
perspectives on knowledge production to studies of different digital
technologies. She has received funding from the Swedish Civil Contingencies
Agency, the Danish Council for Independent Research, Marcus and Amalia
Wallenberg Foundation, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Marianne and Marcus
Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable
Development (FORMAS). She is currently co-PI for two WASP-HS (Wallenberg
AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society)
projects titled: "The ethics and social consequences of AI and caring
robots: Learning trust, empathy and accountability", and "Operationalising
ethics for AI: translation, implementation and accountability challenges".
To join us sign up at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-imperfectly-relatable-robot-katherine-harris
on-linkoping-univ-tickets-862478154377
If no more tickets are available, email s.desaille@sheffield.ac.uk for the
link.
The Institute for the Study of the Human (iHuman) at the University of
Sheffield brings together the fields of Science and Technology Studies and
Critical Disability Studies for disruptive research into what it means to
be human. For more information, visit us at:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ihuman
--
Dr. Stevienna de Saille, Lecturer in Sociology
Institute for the Study of the Human (iHuman), Department of Sociological
Studies
The University of Sheffield, 2 Whitham Road, Sheffield S10 2AH
http://ihuman.group.shef.ac.uk
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