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The Intricacies of Social Robots: Secondary Analysis of Fictional Documentaries to Explore the Benefits and Challenges of Robots in Complex Social Settings

Published: 19 April 2023 Publication History

Abstract

In the design of social robots, the focus is often on the robot itself rather than on the intricacies of possible application scenarios. In this paper, we examine eight fictional documentaries about social robots, such as SEYNO, a robot that promotes respect between passengers in trains, or PATO, a robot to watch movies with. Overall, robots were conceptualized either (1) to substitute humans in relationships or (2) to mediate relationships (human-human-robot-interaction). While the former is basis of many current approaches to social robotics, the latter is less common, but particularly interesting. For instance, the mediation perspective fundamentally impacts the role a robot takes (e.g., role model, black sheep, ally, opponent, moralizer) and thus its potential function and form. From the substitution perspective, robots are expected to mimic human emotions; from the mediation perspective, robots can be positive precisely because they remain objective and are neither emotional nor empathic.

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      cover image ACM Conferences
      CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
      April 2023
      14911 pages
      ISBN:9781450394215
      DOI:10.1145/3544548
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      Published: 19 April 2023

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      1. Social robots
      2. design fiction
      3. human-robot-interaction
      4. otherware
      5. sociability

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      View all
      • (2024)Move, Connect, Interact: Introducing a Design Space for Cross-Traffic InteractionProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36785808:3(1-40)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2024
      • (2024)Embodied Mediation in Group Ideation – A Gestural Robot Can Facilitate Consensus-BuildingProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660696(2611-2632)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
      • (2024)Socio-technical Imaginaries: Envisioning and Understanding AI Parenting Supports through Design FictionProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642619(1-27)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
      • (2024)Digital deception: generative artificial intelligence in social engineering and phishingArtificial Intelligence Review10.1007/s10462-024-10973-257:12Online publication date: 12-Oct-2024
      • (2023)Design Fiction in a Corporate Setting – a Case StudyProceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3563657.3596126(2093-2108)Online publication date: 10-Jul-2023

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