As artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics move out of controlled factory floors and into our homes, schools and hospitals, we are entering the era of the social robot. Once limited to science fiction, these machines are not designed just to perform functional tasks but to interact with people and form social connections.
Yet creating a social robot that is fit for purpose is surprisingly difficult.
Why do some robots feel creepy and others cute? Why do we treat them as if they are alive? Can you trust what a robot says? Can they help us in hospitals or schools? How much should a robot know about us?
As robots begin to occupy traditionally human spaces, the challenge is no longer simply building intelligent machines but understanding how humans respond to them.
Drawing on research in Human-Robot Interaction and Emerging Technologies, in this lecture Dr. Jessica Turner explores what happens when machines enter society. Through stories of the robots built at the University of Waikato we examine how people react to social robots and what these reactions reveal about our expectations for the future.
The age of social robots is arriving, and the question is not whether we can build them, but what role we want them to play in our lives.