scholarly journals How to Use Virtue Ethics for Thinking About the Moral Standing of Social Robots: A Relational Interpretation in Terms of Practices, Habits, and Performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Coeckelbergh
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Moral Standing ◽  
Ethics Of Technology ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Social robots are designed to facilitate interaction with humans through “social” behavior. As literature in the field of human–robot interaction shows, this sometimes leads to “bad” behavior towards the robot or “abuse” of the robot. Virtue ethics offers a helpful way to capture the intuition that although nobody is harmed when a robot is “mistreated”, there is still something wrong with this kind of behavior: it damages the moral character of the person engaging in that behavior, especially when it is habitual. However, one of the limitations of current applications of virtue ethics to robots and technology is its focus on the individual and individual behavior and insufficient attention to temporal and bodily aspects of virtue. After positioning its project in relation to the work of Shannon Vallor and Robert Sparrow, the present paper explores what it would mean to interpret and apply virtue ethics in a more social and relational way and a way that takes into account the link between virtue and the body. In particular, it proposes (1) to use the notion of practice as a way to conceptualize how the individual behavior, the virtue of the person, and the technology in question are related to their wider social-practical context and history, and (2) to use the notions of habit and performance conceptualize the incorporation and performance of virtue. This involves use of the work of MacIntyre, but revised by drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of habit in order to highlight the temporal, embodiment, and performative aspect of virtue. The paper then shows what this means for thinking about the moral standing of social robots, for example for the ethics of sex robots and for evaluating abusive behaviors such as kicking robots. The paper concludes that this approach does not only give us a better account of what happens when people behave “badly” towards social robots, but also suggests a more comprehensive virtue ethics of technology that is fully relational, performance-oriented, and able to not only acknowledges but also theorize the temporal and bodily dimension of virtue.

scholarly journals A critical analysis of the representations of older adults in the field of human–robot interaction

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna Burema
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Academic Publications ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Welfare State

AbstractThis paper argues that there is a need to critically assess bias in the representations of older adults in the field of Human–Robot Interaction. This need stems from the recognition that technology development is a socially constructed process that has the potential to reinforce problematic understandings of older adults. Based on a qualitative content analysis of 96 academic publications, this paper indicates that older adults are represented as; frail by default, independent by effort; silent and technologically illiterate; burdensome; and problematic for society. Within these documents, few counternarratives are present that do not take such essentialist representations. In these texts, the goal of social robots in elder care is to “enable” older adults to “better” themselves. The older body is seen as “fixable” with social robots, reinforcing an ageist and neoliberal narrative: older adults are reduced to potential care receivers in ways that shift care responsibilities away from the welfare state onto the individual.

scholarly journals Human-Robot Handshaking: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vignesh Prasad ◽  
Ruth Stock-Homburg ◽  
Jan Peters
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Natural Interaction ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Verbal Behaviour ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Physical Touch

AbstractFor some years now, the use of social, anthropomorphic robots in various situations has been on the rise. These are robots developed to interact with humans and are equipped with corresponding extremities. They already support human users in various industries, such as retail, gastronomy, hotels, education and healthcare. During such Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) scenarios, physical touch plays a central role in the various applications of social robots as interactive non-verbal behaviour is a key factor in making the interaction more natural. Shaking hands is a simple, natural interaction used commonly in many social contexts and is seen as a symbol of greeting, farewell and congratulations. In this paper, we take a look at the existing state of Human-Robot Handshaking research, categorise the works based on their focus areas, draw out the major findings of these areas while analysing their pitfalls. We mainly see that some form of synchronisation exists during the different phases of the interaction. In addition to this, we also find that additional factors like gaze, voice facial expressions etc. can affect the perception of a robotic handshake and that internal factors like personality and mood can affect the way in which handshaking behaviours are executed by humans. Based on the findings and insights, we finally discuss possible ways forward for research on such physically interactive behaviours.

scholarly journals Survey of Emotions in Human–Robot Interactions: Perspectives from Robotic Psychology on 20 Years of Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Stock-Homburg
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Artificial Emotions ◽  
Art Research ◽  
Research Domain

AbstractKnowledge production within the interdisciplinary field of human–robot interaction (HRI) with social robots has accelerated, despite the continued fragmentation of the research domain. Together, these features make it hard to remain at the forefront of research or assess the collective evidence pertaining to specific areas, such as the role of emotions in HRI. This systematic review of state-of-the-art research into humans’ recognition and responses to artificial emotions of social robots during HRI encompasses the years 2000–2020. In accordance with a stimulus–organism–response framework, the review advances robotic psychology by revealing current knowledge about (1) the generation of artificial robotic emotions (stimulus), (2) human recognition of robotic artificial emotions (organism), and (3) human responses to robotic emotions (response), as well as (4) other contingencies that affect emotions as moderators.

Socially Embodied Human-Robot Interaction

2015 ◽  
pp. 169-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lindblom ◽  
B. Alenljung
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Fundamental Challenge ◽  
Socially Interactive Robots

A fundamental challenge of human interaction with socially interactive robots, compared to other interactive products, comes from them being embodied. The embodied nature of social robots questions to what degree humans can interact ‘naturally' with robots, and what impact the interaction quality has on the user experience (UX). UX is fundamentally about emotions that arise and form in humans through the use of technology in a particular situation. This chapter aims to contribute to the field of human-robot interaction (HRI) by addressing, in further detail, the role and relevance of embodied cognition for human social interaction, and consequently what role embodiment can play in HRI, especially for socially interactive robots. Furthermore, some challenges for socially embodied interaction between humans and socially interactive robots are outlined and possible directions for future research are presented. It is concluded that the body is of crucial importance in understanding emotion and cognition in general, and, in particular, for a positive user experience to emerge when interacting with socially interactive robots.

Affective Goal and Task Selection for Social Robots

2009 ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Scheutz ◽  
Paul Schermerhorn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Task Selection ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Effective decision-making under real-world conditions can be very difficult as purely rational methods of decision-making are often not feasible or applicable. Psychologists have long hypothesized that humans are able to cope with time and resource limitations by employing affective evaluations rather than rational ones. In this chapter, we present the distributed integrated affect cognition and reflection architecture DIARC for social robots intended for natural human-robot interaction and demonstrate the utility of its human-inspired affect mechanisms for the selection of tasks and goals. Specifically, we show that DIARC incorporates affect mechanisms throughout the architecture, which are based on “evaluation signals” generated in each architectural component to obtain quick and efficient estimates of the state of the component, and illustrate the operation and utility of these mechanisms with examples from human-robot interaction experiments.

scholarly journals Theatres of Closure: Process and Performance in Inhumation Burial Rites in Early Medieval Britain

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-412
Author(s):  
Sue Harrington ◽  
Stuart Brookes ◽  
Sarah Semple ◽  
Andrew Millard
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Body Position ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Group Perceptions ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Funerary Ritual ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual

Inhumation burials are recorded in Britain and Europe during excavations in a standardized way, especially graves of early medieval date. Just a limited number of attributes are usually foregrounded and these mainly concern skeletal identification, the grave plan and, when a burial is furnished, a list of objects, particularly metalwork, as well as occasional reference to burial structures, if present. In this paper, we argue that concealed within these recorded details are attributes that often receive little attention, but which can provide evidence for community investment in the individual funerary rite. These include grave orientation, grave morphology, the body position and the empty spaces in the grave, as well as categories of material culture. We argue here that these factors enable us to define communal burial profiles and can facilitate the identification of group perceptions and actions in dealing with death. By capitalizing on these additional aspects of funerary ritual, archaeologists can move away from a general dependency on well-furnished burials as the main stepping-off point for discussion of social and cultural issues. This has particular relevance for regions where unfurnished burial rites are the norm and where furnished rites do not rely on a wealth of metalwork.

Individual Differences in Human-Robot Interaction in a Military Multitasking Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Y. C. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Target Recognition ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Automated Systems ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Military Vehicle ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Modality Preference ◽  
And Robotics

A military vehicle crew station environment was simulated and a series of three experiments was conducted to examine the workload and performance of the combined position of the gunner and robotics operator in a multitasking environment. The study also evaluated whether aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered through tactile and/or visual cuing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks and how the concurrent task performance might be affected when the AiTR was unreliable (i.e., false alarm prone or miss prone). Participants’ spatial ability was consistently found to be a reliable predictor of their targeting task performance as well as their modality preference for the AiTR display. Participants’ attentional control was found to significantly affect the way they interacted with unreliable automated systems.

Physical human-robot interaction: Dependability, safety, and performance

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Bicchi ◽  
Michele Bavaro ◽  
Gianluca Boccadamo ◽  
Davide De Carli ◽  
Roberto Filippini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
And Performance

Special Issue on Human-Robot Interaction in Close Distance

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-7
Author(s):  
Masahiro Shiomi ◽  
Hidenobu Sumioka ◽  
Hiroshi Ishiguro
Keyword(s):  
Physical Distance ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Industrial Robots ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Behavior Design ◽  
Physical Interactions ◽  
Close Distance

As social robot research is advancing, the interaction distance between people and robots is decreasing. Indeed, although we were once required to maintain a certain physical distance from traditional industrial robots for safety, we can now interact with social robots in such a close distance that we can touch them. The physical existence of social robots will be essential to realize natural and acceptable interactions with people in daily environments. Because social robots function in our daily environments, we must design scenarios where robots interact closely with humans by considering various viewpoints. Interactions that involve touching robots influence the changes in the behavior of a person strongly. Therefore, robotics researchers and developers need to design such scenarios carefully. Based on these considerations, this special issue focuses on close human-robot interactions. This special issue on “Human-Robot Interaction in Close Distance” includes a review paper and 11 other interesting papers covering various topics such as social touch interactions, non-verbal behavior design for touch interactions, child-robot interactions including physical contact, conversations with physical interactions, motion copying systems, and mobile human-robot interactions. We thank all the authors and reviewers of the papers and hope this special issue will help readers better understand human-robot interaction in close distance.

scholarly journals Calibrating intuitive and natural human–robot interaction and performance for power-assisted heavy object manipulation using cognition-based intelligent admittance control schemes

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 172988141877319 ◽  
Author(s):  
S M Mizanoor Rahman ◽  
Ryojun Ikeura
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Control ◽  
Optimization Algorithm ◽  
Weight Perception ◽  
Robotic System ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Admittance Control ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Heavy Object ◽  
Control Scheme ◽  
And Performance

In the first step, a one degree of freedom power assist robotic system is developed for lifting lightweight objects. Dynamics for human–robot co-manipulation is derived that includes human cognition, for example, weight perception. A novel admittance control scheme is derived using the weight perception–based dynamics. Human subjects lift a small-sized, lightweight object with the power assist robotic system. Human–robot interaction and system characteristics are analyzed. A comprehensive scheme is developed to evaluate the human–robot interaction and performance, and a constrained optimization algorithm is developed to determine the optimum human–robot interaction and performance. The results show that the inclusion of weight perception in the control helps achieve optimum human–robot interaction and performance for a set of hard constraints. In the second step, the same optimization algorithm and control scheme are used for lifting a heavy object with a multi-degree of freedom power assist robotic system. The results show that the human–robot interaction and performance for lifting the heavy object are not as good as that for lifting the lightweight object. Then, weight perception–based intelligent controls in the forms of model predictive control and vision-based variable admittance control are applied for lifting the heavy object. The results show that the intelligent controls enhance human–robot interaction and performance, help achieve optimum human–robot interaction and performance for a set of soft constraints, and produce similar human–robot interaction and performance as obtained for lifting the lightweight object. The human–robot interaction and performance for lifting the heavy object with power assist are treated as intuitive and natural because these are calibrated with those for lifting the lightweight object. The results also show that the variable admittance control outperforms the model predictive control. We also propose a method to adjust the variable admittance control for three degrees of freedom translational manipulation of heavy objects based on human intent recognition. The results are useful for developing controls of human friendly, high performance power assist robotic systems for heavy object manipulation in industries.

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