Social Robots

Marco Nørskov is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas at Aarhus University, Denmark. Furthermore, he is a cooperative researcher at the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, ATR, Japan.

• Contents: Preface. Part I Boundaries: On the significance of understanding in human-robot interaction, Julia Knifka; Making sense of empathy with sociable robots: a new look at the ‘imaginative perception of emotion’, Josh Redstone; Robots and the limits of morality, Raffaele Rodogno; What’s love got to do with it? Robots, sexuality, and the arts of being human, Charles M. Ess. Part II Potential: Ethics boards for research in robotics and artificial intelligence: is it too soon to act?, John P. Sullins; Technological dangers and the potential of human-robot interaction: a philosophical investigation of fundamental epistemological mechanisms of discrimination, Marco Nørskov; The uncanny valley: a working hypothesis, Adriano Angelucci, Pierluigi Graziani and Maria Grazia Rossi; Staging lies: performativity in the human-robot theatre play I, Worker, Gunhild Borggreen. Part III Challenges: Robots, humans, and the borders of the social world, Hironori Matsuzaki; The diffuse intelligent other: an ontology of nonlocalizable robots as moral and legal actors, Matthew E. Gladden; Gendered by design: gender codes in social robotics, Glenda Shaw-Garlock; Persuasive robotic technologies and the freedom of choice and action, Michele Rapoport.

"This well-crafted collection of timely and thought-provoking essays investigates the opportunities and challenges socially interactive robots represent for us, our communities, and the collective human/robot future that is being assembled all around us. It is (or should be) essential reading for anyone - human or robot - seeking to understand the social conditions and configurations of the 21st century and beyond." - David J. Gunkel, Northern Illinois University, USA."The large-scale integration of social robotic technologies into our everyday life is a much-anticipated next step in the technological and human evolution. The collection of topics comprising this book provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of challenges and potentials of social robotics. It is a must-read for anyone interested in this field." - Hiroshi Ishiguro, Osaka University, Japan"It gives us a fresh perspective on social robots, prompting us to reflect on what it means to be human." - Migle Laukyte