Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

How People’s Perception on Degree of Control Influences Human-Robot Interaction

Automated products that seem to be more sophisticated every day are invading the market. Gmail provides suggestions for emails responses and can even track important dates through emails and send a notification about it without the user's permission. As robot companions are just slowly starting to be available to the public, one must wonder, do people expect robots to have the same technology advancements as other technology tools such as smart phones? Is it really what people want? Some early research on control has been made in the Human Computer Interaction community by Shneiderman & Maes (1997) to discover how much control the user is ready to give up to an intelligent agent. This PhD does the same type of investigations for domestic robots by focussing on perception of control in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). To be able to conduct such an investigation, the user's perception of control is measured through the robot's level of autonomy. As this thesis will show, little research has been done in this area for domestic robot companions. After a first exploratory study was conducted to gain a better understanding of perception of control related to the user's preferred level of autonomy of the robot for a simple task (cleaning), three questionnaire studies have investigated what makes a task high critical or low critical, physical or cognitive. The results could then be used to design a full live investigation on how the level of criticality of a task influence the user's preference of the robot's level of autonomy. The results of this thesis show that in general people want robots to be more autonomous but they still want to have control over the robot for most tasks. People prefer to give instructions to the robot when a cognitive task is performed regardless of the criticality of the task, and for a low critical physical task that is entertainment-based. However, for a high critical physical task, the user prefers the robot to be fully autonomous even if they feel they have less control over the robot. This is explained by the way participants perceived the performance of the task. When the robot was fully autonomous, they felt the task was done faster and smoother than when they had to continuously provide instructions to the robot

Love from the Machine: Technosexualities and the Desire for Machinic Bodies

This dissertation explores the dimensions and practices of technosexualities - human desires for machinic bodies. For the purposes of this project, technosexualities are defined as sexual and/or other intimate desires for technologically enhanced or constructed humanoid bodies ( machinic bodies ) or the desire to be such a machinic body. A machinic body may be mechanical (robotic) and/or digital, techno-biological (as per biological computing and/or a laboratory-“grown” or built body), or “cyborg” (cybernetic organism, a partially technologically-modified, partially biological body.) Rather than interpreting technosexuals as troubled or disturbed “fetishists” who are attracted to the unnatural, or imposing suppositions of feelings of impotence and desire for power as other sources have portrayed them, I explore technosexualities through the lens of “bodies and pleasures” (Foucault, 1978.) As such, this project engages with literature on bodies and embodiment (including medical anthropology literature on the body,) gender, literatures of the burgeoning nonhuman turn in the social sciences that explores human/nonhuman bodily interactions, science and technology studies, stigmatization, and the pertinent literature on online communities. Understanding the complication and fluidities of body/technology interactions with the nonhuman, especially surrounding desire, intimacies, and perceived bodily boundaries (particularly for individuals who want to be machinic bodies) is of increasing importance as new and emerging technologies become further integrated into contemporary life (and bodies, in the form of both medical and cosmetic surgical interventions) This project also explores this non-heteronormative, non-reproductive set of desires by looking at how those who engage in technosexualities of various types approach issues of stigmatization, secrecy, and the pressure of “passing” under compulsory heteronormativity. Although no attempt is made to discover some root cause of technosexualities per se (as this is not a medical investigation and technosexualities are not being treated here as a paraphilia - a fetish ) a potential and partial explanation for technosexual desires is discussed. Through a combination of structured online interviews, participant-observation at the online research site of Fembot Central and discourse analysis at the research site, I investigate the thoughts, affects, practices, and group interactions of those who desire machinic bodies

An Evaluation Schema for the Ethical Use of Autonomous Robotic Systems in Security Applications

We propose a multi-step evaluation schema designed to help procurement agencies and others to examine the ethical dimensions of autonomous systems to be applied in the security sector, including autonomous weapons systems

The Postcolonial Galaxy or a Galactic Postcoloniality: : New Dynamics of Power in Isaac Asimov’s The Naked Sun

The Foucauldian notion of the “productive” component of power manifested in the semblance of autonomy in “transparent” subjects unsettles Francis Fukuyama’s aspirations about information technology that breaks the “monopoly over information.”  Knowledge of the colonial subject in the Foucauldian paradigm and its indispensable role in the manifestation of colonial power have been the mainstay of postcolonial phenomenological reflections of the Self/Other. The Foucauldian notion of the subject’s delusional agency in liberal discourses, however, witnesses a further modification in fiction speculating on Artificial Intelligence. This results in the rupture of complacency about authoritarian control, since Artificial Intelligence, as an offshoot of the revolution so dear to Fukuyma, produces the case for a new kind of subject in speculative fiction like Asimov’s The Naked Sun. What emerges subsequently is the example of an intelligent subject capable not simply of producing knowledge but also withholding it— a simulated intelligence that is human-but-not-quite. This gives rise to an anxiety of control experienced by the human subject like the detective Baley in Asimov’s text who wishes to make the robot-assistant, Daneel, serve his purpose only. Such an anxiety experienced in the face of the rupture of projection of the purpose of robotics research mimics postcolonial anxieties in the event of rupture of colonial projections on the Other. This paper seeks to explore postcolonialism as a condition not only reflective of the past but also an expedient tool to measure anxieties, fantasies, and their subsequent sublimation in speculative fiction on the future of robotics and Artificial Intelligence, as in Asimov’s text

Developing Emotional Security Among Children Who Have Been Adopted

This study investigated the development of emotional security among 6-10 year old children who have been adopted by exposing them to an experimental condition during which they could engage with either a live dog or a robotic dog. The live dog was a certified therapy dog; the robotic dog was a FurReal® toy marketed by Hasbro as Biscuit. Utilizing a mixed-method embedded experimental design, the experimental condition was intentionally structured to promote engagement between the participant and the dog or robot. 43 children who had been adopted from the child welfare system were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was exposed to a therapy dog (n=22), while another was exposed to the social robotic dog (n=21). The development of emotional security was targeted for measurement in this study using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, a test of social understanding that has been linked in the literature to oxytocin- a hormone premised to be a marker of the development of emotional security. Physiological anxiety was also measured as an indicator of emotional security using the Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale-2 (RCMAS-2). Both measures were administered before and after exposure to the experimental condition. A linear mixed-effect regression analysis showed that for boys only, there was a significant effect of engagement with either companion on social understanding (

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 2

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 2

Robots and human dignity: A consideration of the effects of robot care on the dignity of older people

This paper explores the relationship between dignity and robot care for older people. It highlights the disquiet that is often expressed about failures to maintain the dignity of vulnerable older people, but points out some of the contradictory uses of the word 'dignity'. Certain authors have resolved these contradictions by identifying different senses of dignity; contrasting the inviolable dignity inherent in human life to other forms of dignity which can be present to varying degrees. The capability approach (CA) is introduced as a different but tangible account of what it means to live a life worthy of human dignity. It is used here as a framework for the assessment of the possible effects of eldercare robots on human dignity. The CA enables the identification of circumstances in which robots could enhance dignity by expanding the set of capabilities that are accessible to frail older people. At the same time, it is also possible within its framework to identify ways in which robots could have a negative impact, by impeding the access of older people to essential capabilities. It is concluded that the CA has some advantages over other accounts of dignity, but that further work and empirical study is needed in order to adapt it to the particular circumstances and concerns of those in the latter part of their lives