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Colloquia Archive

Social and Moral Relationships with Personified Robots

November 1, 2007

Host: Karl F. MacDorman

Abstract

Personified robots will become part of our lives, although it is not yet clear how. They may become caretakers for the elderly, tutors for children, healthcare or day-care assistants, counselors, museum guides, or maids. They may also become our friends.

Based on his laboratory’s research, Peter Kahn explores in his talk the social and moral challenges that personified robots will pose as they become increasingly prevalent. Working in collaboration with ATR, Kahn examines how children and adolescents interact with the humanoid robot Robovie and how they reason about it. He also examines how children, adults, and elders interact with Sony’s robotic dog Aibo. If people form social and partly moral relationships with personified robots, as his lab’s research suggests, how should we design them and introduce them into society to enhance our social and moral lives?

Biography

Peter H. Kahn, Jr. is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Information School, and Co-Director of the Value Sensitive Design Research Laboratory at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. Kahn’s books include The Human Relationship with Nature: Development and Culture (1999, MIT Press) and Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations (2002, MIT Press), edited with Stephen Kellert. His publications have appeared in such journals as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Human-Computer Interaction. His research projects, funded by the National Science Foundation, currently focus on social and moral relationships with personified robots, the psychological effects of digitized natural information, and value sensitive design.

Notes

Prof. Kahn will also give a talk on Friday, November 2, 2007 at 3 pm in Room I107 of the Informatics Building, Indiana University, 10th and Woodlawn, Bloomington, IN 47405.