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Social Robots for Social Institutions : Scaling Up and Cutting Back on Cognition

Brinck, Ingar LU orcid (2023) Robophilosophy 2022 In Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 366. p.615-620
Abstract
Current technological change is rapid and far-reaching, more so than ever before in human history. It is transforming all dimensions of human life, leading to large-scale adaptation. Among the disruptive new technologies that are being introduced into society, social robots are distinguished by their hybrid existence between mere thing and mindful agent. They are physical machines capable of interacting with the surroundings and designed to collaborate with humans on human tasks while interacting in human ways. In contrast to rescue, delivery, and patrol robots that replace human labour, these robots take social roles such as tutor, peer, learner, companion, or assistant. On a more general note, social robots are expected to work closely... (More)
Current technological change is rapid and far-reaching, more so than ever before in human history. It is transforming all dimensions of human life, leading to large-scale adaptation. Among the disruptive new technologies that are being introduced into society, social robots are distinguished by their hybrid existence between mere thing and mindful agent. They are physical machines capable of interacting with the surroundings and designed to collaborate with humans on human tasks while interacting in human ways. In contrast to rescue, delivery, and patrol robots that replace human labour, these robots take social roles such as tutor, peer, learner, companion, or assistant. On a more general note, social robots are expected to work closely with humans—as partner, colleague, family, and friend. Yet, that a robot can act as a social entity, does not entail the robot
constitutes a social being in its own right [1]. The question is whether social robots are capable of participating in and contributing to human social institutions such as healthcare, education, and economy; and if this is so, the follow-up question concerns what this may entail for society in the longer perspective. The emphasis of the present talk lies on the first question, the supposed contribution of social robots to social institutions. Raising a few queries concerning the ability of the BDI-paradigm and affective robotics to provide an adequate reply to this question, at least in its present formulation, I will briefly outline an alternative that lays down a new path in HRI, based in the notions of embodied, embedded, dynamic, and distributed cognition. I claim that these notions are particularly well-suited for designing social institutional forms of HRI, because they permit modelling the relevant cognitive processes as unfolding in the physical space that humans and robots share. The environment provides the resources for HRI such as artefacts, routines, and embodied social norms that simultaneously constrain and enable the emergence of novel institutional practices involving human and machine. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
social robots, social institution, social interaction, cognition, embodied cognition, embedded cognition, Dynamic process, joint action, social practice, incremental learning, social learning, personalisation
host publication
Social Robots in Social Institutions : Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2022 - Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2022
series title
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
editor
Hakli, Raul ; Mäkelä, Pekka and Seibt, Johanna
volume
366
pages
6 pages
publisher
IOS Press
conference name
Robophilosophy 2022
conference location
Helsinki, Finland
conference dates
2022-08-16 - 2022-08-19
external identifiers
  • scopus:85152886457
ISSN
1879-8314
0922-6389
ISBN
978-1-64368-374-4
978-1-64368-375-1
DOI
10.3233/FAIA220667
project
Lund University AI Research
Social interaction for autonomous systems WASP-HS Topic Leader
Urban Arena
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4009e3bc-ec4f-46e4-a870-4ea448cbcea9
date added to LUP
2023-01-13 03:06:21
date last changed
2024-06-15 01:17:31
@inproceedings{4009e3bc-ec4f-46e4-a870-4ea448cbcea9,
  abstract     = {{Current technological change is rapid and far-reaching, more so than ever before in human history. It is transforming all dimensions of human life, leading to large-scale adaptation. Among the disruptive new technologies that are being introduced into society, social robots are distinguished by their hybrid existence between mere thing and mindful agent. They are physical machines capable of interacting with the surroundings and designed to collaborate with humans on human tasks while interacting in human ways. In contrast to rescue, delivery, and patrol robots that replace human labour, these robots take social roles such as tutor, peer, learner, companion, or assistant. On a more general note, social robots are expected to work closely with humans—as partner, colleague, family, and friend. Yet, that a robot can act as a social entity, does not entail the robot<br/>constitutes a social being in its own right [1]. The question is whether social robots are capable of participating in and contributing to human social institutions such as healthcare, education, and economy; and if this is so, the follow-up question concerns what this may entail for society in the longer perspective. The emphasis of the present talk lies on the first question, the supposed contribution of social robots to social institutions. Raising a few queries concerning the ability of the BDI-paradigm and affective robotics to provide an adequate reply to this question, at least in its present formulation, I will briefly outline an alternative that lays down a new path in HRI, based in the notions of embodied, embedded, dynamic, and distributed cognition. I claim that these notions are particularly well-suited for designing social institutional forms of HRI, because they permit modelling the relevant cognitive processes as unfolding in the physical space that humans and robots share. The environment provides the resources for HRI such as artefacts, routines, and embodied social norms that simultaneously constrain and enable the emergence of novel institutional practices involving human and machine.}},
  author       = {{Brinck, Ingar}},
  booktitle    = {{Social Robots in Social Institutions : Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2022}},
  editor       = {{Hakli, Raul and Mäkelä, Pekka and Seibt, Johanna}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-64368-374-4}},
  issn         = {{1879-8314}},
  keywords     = {{social robots; social institution; social interaction; cognition; embodied cognition; embedded cognition; Dynamic process; joint action; social practice; incremental learning; social learning; personalisation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{615--620}},
  publisher    = {{IOS Press}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications}},
  title        = {{Social Robots for Social Institutions : Scaling Up and Cutting Back on Cognition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/FAIA220667}},
  doi          = {{10.3233/FAIA220667}},
  volume       = {{366}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}