Slides for the seminar, Send in the Robots, presented as part of the Adventures in Culture & Technology Seminar series organised by the Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) at Curtin University, Western Australia. Robots are sent into dangerous situations in relation to work, war, disaster and exploration. Some of these robots are completely autonomous, deciding what actions to take based on their perceptions of the environment and knowledge of the task. More often, they are partially controlled by a human operator, and the relationship between the human and robot must be negotiated as it alters from full human control to full robot autonomy and back. Successful human-robot interactions are often understood to rely on the creation of humanoid robots that communicate in humanlike ways. However, the majority of the robots discussed in this seminar are not humanlike in form or communicative style. In spite of this, they form successful multi-skilled teams with humans. How do humans and robots communicate and work together in these contexts? What ethical issues are raised by the formation of these close-knit human-robot teams?

1. (Image courtesy of Benjamin Forster)
Send in the Robots
Adventures in Culture & Technology
Eleanor Sandry
e.sandry@curtin.edu.au
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23.10.2013

2. Key ideas:
 Anthropomorphism and/or zoomorphism are unavoidable,
and a vital aspect of communication with these robots
 Communication is composed of verbal signs and nonverbal signs and meaning emerges from a system of
overlapping interchange between communicators
 Shared history and experience, developed by learning
together (and then working together and surviving
together) over time, supports fluent communication and
also the possibility of interruption
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3. Autonomous Light Air Vessels (ALAVs)
Send in the Robots, Eleanor Sandry
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4. Overtly non-humanoid machines
Talon
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PackBot
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5. Getting (too) attached to military robots
Send in the Robots, Eleanor Sandry
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6. Getting (too) attached to military robots
Send in the Robots, Eleanor Sandry
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7. Sending robots to space (never to return)
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8. The new breeds: humanoid and animal-like
Atlas
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BigDog (now redeveloped as LS3)
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9. Goffman: „small behaviors‟
“The ultimate behavioral materials are the glances, gestures,
positionings, and verbal statements that people continually
feed into the situation, whether intended or not. These are
the external signs of orientation and involvement”
Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual, 1967, p.1.
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10. Goffman: study relations (& individuals)
“I assume that the proper study of interaction is not the
individual and his psychology, but rather the syntactical
relations among the acts of different persons mutually
present to one another.”
Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual, 1967, p.2.
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11. Goffman: minimal model of actor
“None the less, since it is individual actors who contribute
the ultimate materials, it will always be reasonable to ask
what general properties they must have if this sort of
contribution is to be expected of them.”
“What minimal model of the actor is needed if we are to wind
him up, stick him in amongst his fellows, and have an orderly
traffic of behavior emerge?”
Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual, 1967, p.2&3.
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12. Finn & Scheding: issues with turn-taking
“At present, the human-UVS relationship (and hence the
HMI) is usually based around some form of turn-taking
behaviour, which can introduce delays and inefficiencies or
even cause frustration. There is consequently a need to
design HMI and UVS that work more fluently with their
human partners.”
Anthony Finn & Steve Scheding, Challenges for Autonomous Unmanned
Vehicles, 2010, p.50.
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13. Mars rovers: forced turn-taking and empathy
Although communication with Mars rovers is committed to turn-taking (because
of the technical constraints) empathy still develops.
This may be because of the long term nature of the working relationship.
Spirit and Opportunity survived far longer than the original 90-day plan.
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14. Finn & Scheding: the value of anticipation
“collaborative joint action relies upon the human and the
UVS having the capacity to anticipate one another‟s actions.”
Anthony Finn & Steve Scheding, Challenges for Autonomous Unmanned
Vehicles, 2010, p.50.
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15. Hoffman: anticipation & fluency
“Anticipation is a … crucial mechanism in achieving fluency
in joint action. Anticipating world states, as well as the
actions of a collaboration partner, enable an agent to time its
actions precisely and … has a significant effect on the
human teammate‟s notion of the agent‟s commitment and
contribution to the task.”
Guy Hoffman, Ensemble: Fluency and Embodiment for Robots Acting with
Humans, 2007, p.24-25 (PhD Thesis).
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16. AUR: a robotic lighting assistant
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17. Teamwork with AUR
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18. Fogel: co-regulation and continuous process
“Co-regulation arises as part of a continuous process of
communication, not as the result of an exchange of
messages borne by discrete communication signals.”
Alan Fogel, Developing through relationships: origins of communication,
self and culture, 1993, p.6.
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19. Luhmann: emergence of communication
“in a systems-theoretic approach it is the very emergence of
communication that is emphasized. Nothing is transmitted.
Redundancy is created in the sense that the communication
creates a memory that can be called on by many persons in
quite different ways.”
Niklas Luhmann, “What is Communication?”, 1992, p.254.
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20. Lotman: boundaries and new information
“semiotic space is transected by numerous boundaries, each
message that moves across it must be many times
translated and transformed, and the process of generating
new information thereby snowballs.”
Yuri M. Lotman, Universe of the Mind, 1990, p.140.
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21. Key ideas:
 Anthropomorphism and/or zoomorphism are unavoidable,
and a vital aspect of communication with these robots
 Communication is composed of verbal signs and nonverbal signs and meaning emerges from a system of
overlapping interchange between communicators
 Shared history and experience, developed by learning
together (and then working together and surviving
together) over time, supports fluent communication and
also the possibility of interruption
Footer text - slideshow title
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30.07.2010

22. Questions:
 Have you ever named a machine (a car/computer/robot)
and did you/do you empathise with that machine?
 What jobs do you think robots should be designed to carry
out? (Would you like a robot in your home, and what would
you like it to be able to do?)
 What do you think robots should look like?
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30.07.2010