Social interaction with robots: three questions

Abstract

Robots are coming into different spheres of our daily lives, and therefore it is important that we now reflect systematically and in a comprehensive and inclusive way on the effects this may have on human interactions with other people and with machines. In Delmenhorst we held the conference “Going beyond the Laboratory.” Reflecting on the discussions of the conference, the editorial team realized a conceptual gap between the engineering sciences on the one hand and the social sciences and philosophy on the other hand. In order to initiate first steps in the direction of overcoming this divide, the editorial team decided to put forth three questions crucial for the issue of social interaction with robots and collected answers by experts in different robotics research projects. The questions are: How are we to understand the term robot autonomy in robotics and in social life? How is the idea of robot autonomy related to the limits of mathematization? I.e. is it possible, to fully express mathematically processes of social interaction? And finally, how are interactions between humans and robots in everyday life related to social institutions on a micro- and macro-level?