"Android, Assembled is a curated volume that unpacks social robots - not as a monolithic machines but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from bodily features like heads and sensors to the elements we read into them like gender and authority. Each chapter explores the philosophical, empirical, theoretical, or technical understandings of discrete robot components to provoke a deeper look into how those parts contribute to what robots are and how humans experience them. Part I (Explicit Anatomy)considers the manifest components of robots-those that make up the manifest, physical robot and its capabilities: Shapes, heads, faces, eyes, legs, feet, wings, color, clothing, gestures, postures, speech, text, screens, memory, information, sensors, actuators, cyborgic elements, and distributed elements. Part II (Implicit Anatomy) delves into the parts of social robots that humans infer or interpret: Media-formed images, interactivity, cuteness, gender, power, authority, group membership, cognition, decision-making, aliveness, mindedness, obligations, and ultimately the kind of thing a robot is. Each chapter summarizes the state of knowledge, art, or philosophy for its components-and then gives a provocation to animate open questions and possible futures"-- Provided by publisher.
Android, Assembled is a curated volume that unpacks social robots – not as a monolithic machines but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from bodily features like heads and sensors to the elements we read into them like gender and authority.
Android, Assembled unpacks the phenomenon of social robots—not as monolithic machines but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from bodily features (like heads and sensors) and the elements we read into them (like gender and authority). Each chapter explores the philosophical, theoretical, empirical, or technical understanding of discrete robot components to offer a deeper look into how those parts contribute to what social robots are and how humans experience them. Part I (Explicit Anatomy) considers the manifest components of robots—those that make up the physical robot and its capabilities: Shapes, heads, faces, eyes, legs, feet, wings, color, clothing, gestures, postures, speech, text, screens, memory, information, sensors, actuators, organic elements, and distributed elements. Part II (Implicit Anatomy) explores the parts of social robots that humans infer or interpret: Image, interactivity, cuteness, gender, power, authority, membership, cognition, decision-making, aliveness, mindedness, obligations, and ultimately the kind of thing a robot is. Along with the state of the art and science, each author gives a provocation to highlight open questions and possible futures.
