Week 6

Question 1

Morphology (form and structure)

Answer 1

1. anthropomorphic (human form)
2. Zoomorphic (animal form)
3. Caricatured (a non-humanoid robot that can show simplified humanoid motions in exaggerated ways)
4. Functional

Question 2

Different kinds of robot - terminology

Answer 2

1. humanoid = body shape similar to a human
2. android = robot with human appearance (but not that of a specific individual)
3. geminoid = robot is built to resemble a specific human individual

Question 3

Social robots challenging communication science

Answer 3

1. challenging the notion of communicator
2. challenging the notion of medium
3. challenging the boundaries of communication

Question 4

Fields of use for social robots

Answer 4

1. health care for the elderly
2. interaction with children with autism spectrum disorder (less intimidating, less overwhelming, less judgemental)
3. telerobotics
4. education
5. shopping mall guides

Question 5

Classes of social robots

Answer 5

1. Socially evocative = rely on the human tendency to anthropomorphize and capitalize on feelings
2. Sociable = proactively engage with humans
3. Socially situated = surrounded by a social environment that they perceive and react to
4. Socially intelligent = show aspects of human style social intelligence

Question 6

Socially interactive robots

Answer 6

1. social interaction plays a roll
2. exhibit the following characteristics:
   a. express and perceive emotions
   b. communicate with high-level dialogue
   c. learn/recognize other agents
   d. establish/maintain social relationships
   e. use natural cues (gaze, gestures)
   f. exhibit distinctive personality/character
   g. may lean/develop social competencies

Question 7

Approaches to social interaction with robots

Answer 7

1. robot-centered view
2. human-centered view
3. robot cognition-centered view

Question 8

Robot design (general)

Answer 8

1. perception (sensing environment)
2. cognition (planning, deciding)
3. action (mobility, manipulation)
4. human-robot interaction (interface, input devices, feedback devices)
5. architecture (control, electromechanics)

Question 9

Robot design (specific to social robots)

Answer 9

1. perceiving humans (detecting gestures, monitoring human actions)
2. natural HRI (human and robot should communicate like peers and follow the same social conventions)
3. readable social cues (robot must send comprehensible cures to human allow human to interact and understand robot’s internal states)
4. real-time performance (robots must interact at human interaction rates)

Question 10

Concept and theories (selection)

Answer 10

1. The uncanny valley = explains feelings of discomfort and unease toward close-to human robots
2. Media equation / CASA = individuals treat computers as social actors
3. Anthropomorphism = the tendency of humans to anthropomorphize objects
4. Mind perception = not all reactions to robots are mindless
5. Emotional attachment to robots = psychically present robots are seen as more real
6. Embodiment = establish mutual perturbation between system and environment

Question 11

Human-robot interaction and CMC difference

Answer 11

1. Humanoid social robots differ from CMC technologies in that they are not a medium through which humans interact, but rather a medium with which humans interact
2. Humanoid social robots are not user-friendly computers that operate as machines: rather, they are user-friendly computers that operate as humans

Question 12

Commonalities between human-robot-interaction (HRI) and human-human interaction (HHI)

Answer 12

1. Linguistically based: the skills of communication
2. Relationality: use of personal pronouns
3. Normative: follow social conventions such as politeness norms

Question 13

Differences between HRI and HHI

Answer 13

1. interpretative asymmetry = HHI is only meaningful for the human
2. resistiveness = not domain-restricted for humans
3. indexical nature of communication = only humans can derive meaning of an expression from a particular situation

Question 14

Potential consequences for cognitive development

Answer 14

1. improved learning
   - personalized to child
   - self-learning robot teacher
2. educational bubbles
   - knowledge fragmentation
   - lost in abundance

Question 15

Potential consequences for relational development

Answer 15

1. complementarization
   - compensation for deficiencies in human-human relationships
   - functional diversification of relationships
2. replacement
   - internalization of master-servant relationship
   - loss of relational authenticity

Question 16

Potential consequences for identity development

Answer 16

1. extension of self
   - in addition and beyond human-human contact
   - different selves: robots as a new ontological category
2. contraction of self
   - privacy issues
   - robots as surveillance machines

Question 17

Problems in applying CASA paradigm to social robots

Answer 17

1. research on computers can not be generalized to social robots
2. people have become more experienced with technology and have developed specific human-robot interaction scripts
3. current robots cannot fulfill the tasks that human interactants fulfill (deficiencies)

Question 18

Deficiencies of social robots

Answer 18

1. reduced autonomy
2. reduced behavioral anthropomorphism
3. robot memory: lack of persistence and searchability, notably for interaction history
4. low interactivity: limited responsiveness and contingency
5. little conversational control
6. limited personalization

Question 19

Interpersonal (social exchange) theories difficult to apply

Answer 19

1. resources: robots do not posses material or immaterial resources
2. costs, benefits, equity: robots do not experience costs and benefits in the way humans do
3. self-disclosure: when robots share information, it is not based on personal experiences and does not qualify as self-disclosure