Machines with Heart: Utilizing an STS Framework to Analyze Implementation and Design of Social Eldercare Robots in Germany and Japan

Robots are everywhere from car factories to cafes, but many people may not realize robots are quite popular in assisted living residencies for older adults. Social eldercare robots (SER) provide care to older adults without relying on human labor, offering a lucrative promise of technological efficiency during global labor crises. However, their adaptation into care settings is not this simple. Human trust in robots is rooted in nuanced social, cultural, and historical factors, making SER a highly interpretively flexible technology. This thesis analyzes social eldercare robot implementation in two countries, Germany and Japan, using a Science, Technology and Society (STS) framework. By investigating how service animals, perception of migrant labor, and religious factors impact social eldercare robot use, I argue acceptance of SER is highly bound to local beliefs about caretaking, spirituality, and what it truly means to be alive

Robotic Rabbit Companions: amusing or a nuisance?

Most of the studies in human-robot interaction involve controlled experiments in a laboratory and only a limited number of studies have put robotic companions into people’s home. Introducing robots into a real-life environment does not only pose many technical challenges but also raises several methodological issues. And even though there might be a gain in ecological validity of the findings, there are other drawbacks that limit the validity of the results. In this paper we reflect on some of these issues based on the experience we gained in the SERA project where a robotic companion was put in the homes of a few people for ten days. We try to draw some general lessons from this experience

Acceptance of a minimal design of a human infant for facilitating affective interaction with older adults: A case study toward interactive doll therapy

H. Sumioka, M. Shiomi, N. Yamato and H. Ishiguro, "Acceptance of a minimal design of a human infant for facilitating affective interaction with older adults: A case study toward interactive doll therapy*," 2020 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Naples, Italy, 2020, pp. 775-780, doi: 10.1109/RO-MAN47096.2020.9223613.The 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication [31 AUG - 04 SEPT, 2020

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Attitudes Toward Robots among a Japanese and U.S. University Faculty using Implicit and Explicit Measures

Japan has more robots than any other country, and robots play a role in many areas of Japanese society, including manufacturing, healthcare, and entertainment. However, there have been relatively few cross-cultural studies to examine Japan's robot-oriented culture, and the studies there have been tend to su er from a self- selection bias by sampling among participants who are visiting robotics exhibits or robot-related news groups. In addition, no studies have considered implicit measures of attitudes toward robots, which are indicative of uncontrolled cognitive processes, thus reducing self-presentational bias. This study presents a cross-cultural comparison of attitudes toward robots at a US and Japanese faculty using explicit and implicit measures. The results of this study indicate Japanese faculty had many more robot-related experiences than the US faculty. Although US participants reported a slightly stronger preference for peo- ple than the Japanese participants did, and Japanese participants reported slightly warmer feelings toward robots, implicit measures showed virtually no di erence be- tween the groups. Both groups had signi cantly more pleasant associations with humans than with robots. Both the Japanese and US faculty reported people as be- ing more dangerous than robots but implicitly associated robots more strongly with weapons than people. This gap was bigger for the US faculty. It may indicate a con ict between rational fears of people and unconscious fears of robots. Given the higher prevalence of violent crime in the US, people are a known danger, but the danger of robots is harder to assess owing to a lack of experience with them

Personal Robot Technologies to Support Older People Living Independently

The world’s population is ageing, and the number of younger people available to care for the older population is decreasing. Digital technologies, particularly robotic technologies, are considered an important part of the solution to this looming problem. This chapter reviews some of the research over the last decade (2013 – 2023) on the development and evaluation of personal robots to assist older people living independently. The research is divided into three areas: that on older people’s needs and desires in relation to personal robots and their attitudes towards robots; their reactions to personal robots after a brief experience with them; and the evaluation of older people’s longer-term use of personal robots. Strengths and weaknesses of the research are discussed, as well as areas of need for further research.Die Weltbevölkerung altert und die Zahl der jüngeren Menschen, die für die Pflege der älteren Bevölkerung zur Verfügung stehen, nimmt ab. Digitale Technologien, insbesondere Robotertechnologien, gelten als wichtiger Teil der Lösung für dieses drohende Problem. Dieses Kapitel gibt einen Überblick über die Forschung der letzten zehn Jahre (2013 - 2023) zur Entwicklung und Bewertung von persönlichen Robotern, die ältere Menschen dabei unterstützen, ein unabhängiges Leben zu führen. Die Forschung ist in drei Bereiche unterteilt: die Bedürfnisse und Wünsche älterer Menschen in Bezug auf persönliche Roboter und ihre Einstellung zu Robotern; ihre Reaktionen auf persönliche Roboter nach kurzer Erfahrung mit ihnen; und die Bewertung der längerfristigen Nutzung persönlicher Roboter durch ältere Menschen. Stärken und Schwächen der Forschung werden diskutiert, ebenso wie Bereiche, in denen weitere Forschung notwendig ist

Robots in Service and Nursing Care - An Investigation into Japan’s Robot Use and Development

Postponed access: the file will be accessible after 2020-11-30We are currently seeing a rapid growth in the investment and development of robots to assist or replace human workers and efforts in many aspects of life. Due to Japan’s proportionally large and growing elderly population along with a shrinking workforce, the Japanese government has chosen to promote the research, development, and use of robots in fields such as nursing care. Other countries are also facing the same problems as Japan but have not chosen to promote the alternative futuristic solution to the same extent. In a pursuit to better understand the impact that robots already have and will have on society and everyday life, we have researched the topic of assistive robots in the service and nursing care context. Through a design science framework and mixed methods approach, performing semi-structured interviews with robot developers, professors in robotics and nursing care staff, observations on the use of robots in real-life settings, case studies, and one experiment, we have developed a comprehensive analysis and understanding of the research problem. To analyze the data, content analysis and the grounded theory were used. An experiment and two case studies were used to investigate attitudes, perceived benefits, and disadvantages of using robots. Furthermore, interviews and observations were conducted at nursing care facilities to investigate the possibility of assisting or even substituting humans with robots in settings that usually require a sense of human warmth and care. Previous research often focusses on individual robots or on literature review without field data. It would seem like the literature is lacking a deeper perspective, while at the same time, painting a wider picture of the domain itself. Therefore, this research investigated the development and experiences with robots that already exist and have been tested in real-world settings. The findings of the study summarized the literature on robots in nursing care, attitudes towards robots across countries and Japan’s strategy for further integrating robots into their society. Other results include real experience with the use of robots in nursing facilities and theories grounded in the ideas and thoughts behind the development of robots commonly used today. An experiment exploring empathy towards robots demonstrated the distinctiveness of robots, as compared to dolls, in enhanced empathy towards them. Two case studies captured views from university students and primary school pupils based on interaction with the humanoid robot Pepper. Pupils found Pepper to be useful and likable, while university students found the interaction to be fun, but frustrating at times. Based on the field studies, we could conclude that Japanese robot developers and researches recommend robots to be inferior to users in terms of intelligence and relationship, but also capable of easy interaction and ideally reading between lines in communication. In nursing care, robots are currently taking the role of pets (Paro and Qoobo), a child (Pepper, Paro, PALRO, RoBoHon, and Smibi) and even as a staff member (Pepper), capable of entertaining and accompanying elderly to help with mental well-being. There might be a current lack of ethical and safety standards for such robots. However, safety and ethical issues are considered by developers and professors in terms of privacy, deception, attachment, mechanical safety. Current robots have different levels of cognitive capacities depending on purpose and interaction style. Goals for the future include improvement in aspects such as intelligence, marketing strategies, and educating users on robots’ capabilities and limitations.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-IKTMASV-INF

What makes a social robot good at interacting with humans?

This paper discusses the nuances of a social robot, how and why social robots are becoming increasingly significant, and what they are currently being used for. This paper also reflects on the current design of social robots as a means of interaction with humans and also reports potential solutions about several important questions around the futuristic design of these robots. The specific questions explored in this paper are: “Do social robots need to look like living creatures that already exist in the world for humans to interact well with them?”; “Do social robots need to have animated faces for humans to interact well with them?”; “Do social robots need to have the ability to speak a coherent human language for humans to interact well with them?” and “Do social robots need to have the capability to make physical gestures for humans to interact well with them?”. This paper reviews both verbal as well as nonverbal social and conversational cues that could be incorporated into the design of social robots, and also briefly discusses the emotional bonds that may be built between humans and robots. Facets surrounding acceptance of social robots by humans and also ethical/moral concerns have also been discussed