Book - Chapter 11

Question 1

Importance of Popular Media in Social Robotics

Answer 1

Robots have always been a “hot topic” for sci-fi writers and avid consumers

These portrayals form our perceptions and understanding of robots, potentially biassing our views

This creates a gap between expectations fueled by science fiction and robots’ actual current abilities that often leads to disappointment in current robots

Question 2

Common Media Narratives Regarding Robots

Answer 2

1. Robots want to be human:

The Bicentennial Man

2. Robots are a threat to humanity:

Terminator, Matrix, iRobot

Usually builds on two assumptions:

a. Robots resemble humans but exceed them in intelligence and power
b. Once they realise humans are inferior, they dehumanise them

this rationale relates to the perceived threat to distinctiveness

3. Superior robots being good:

This narrative is largely found in the East, in countries like Japan

4. Robots are highly/ not at all similar to humans:

The human embodiment sets our expectations, and when a difference from humans is displayed, it surprises the audience

5. Narratives involving science-scare stories or wacky science stories:

One example are autonomous vehicles
Tesla and other companies have released statistics that show that such vehicles lead to significantly less crashes
However, if even one accident does take place, the media places a disproportionate amount of importance on it, which may inhibit the adoption of this technology

Question 3

Importance of Media Interactions in HRI

Answer 3

media has great potential to showcase the work of HRI researchers but also carries considerable risks

most researchers participate in media training sessions that many universities and research institutes offer to their staff

researchers are generally taught to stick to the research that was actually performed and avoid engaging in wild speculations about topics that were not covered in the study at hand

Question 4

Three Laws of Robotics

Answer 4

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Additional 0th rule:
A robot may not harm humanity or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Question 5

Areas with the most ethical issues

Answer 5

ubiquitous deployment of robots in future society

use of robots in home and care contexts

implications of developing autonomous weapons systems and autonomous cars

development of robots for attachment, love, or sex

Question 6

Wizard-of-Oz Approach to Robotics Research

Answer 6

convincing some group of people that a robot has certain functions when in reality the researcher controls the robot’s behaviour in the background

Question 7

Persuasive Technology in Robitics Research

Answer 7

using robots to manipulate people into changing not only their attitudes but also their behaviours

poses ethical concerns if they exploit the social bond with the user and influence the user without their explicit consent and conscious knowledge or understanding

Question 8

Emotional authenticity in HRI

Answer 8

robots are unable to actually experience the emotions it puts forward

Authenticity is important in human-human relations, so will it be in robot-human interactions?

Question 9

Impact of Robots on Language

Answer 9

Language develops dynamically, and every speaker influences its development simply through its usage

Robots have the ability to communicate in humanlike ways, and can be a convincing persuasive communicator

Thus, without us even noticing, computers and robots can influence the words we use and we feel about them

Currrently, there seem to not be any regulations or policies at this point to supervise how large IT companies influence the usage of language

We must ensure that no company or government can influence our language without our consent and the robots we design do not become additional persuasive/misleading technologies

Question 10

People’s tendency to intimidate and bully robots

Answer 10

Robots do not normally experience any pain or humiliation, and hence humans actually face greater dangers than robots during such abuse

It has also been argued that bullying robots is a moral offence, as responding with violence is always considered wrong and should be discouraged