Telerobotics in Private Settings
11 | 2020 – 03 | 2021
While telerobots offer potentially unique ways to shape human-human relationships, current concepts often just perform pragmatic tasks, such as rescue services, or they imitate existing social practices, such as face-to-face conversations.
For the Honda Research Institute (HRI), Ruben Albers, Marc Hassenzahl and me from the University of Siegen explored whether the explicit use of the unique possibilities of telerobots can lead to meaningful care practices in informal care. Initial in-depth conversations with five caregivers and care recipients about their care practices revealed three types of ›care visits‹ (i.e., dedicated, short/spontaneous, reciprocal) as well as what makes them positive (e.g., mutuality, routine, autonomy). We combined this with the unique opportunities telerobots offer, such as masking the feelings of the caregiver. These were further condensed into three video prototypes of potential, robot-mediated care practices and further critically reflected together with the five participants.
All in all, we did not only find several telerobotic superpowers for social settings but also saw, that telerobots offer opportunities to strengthen relational autonomy, to entangle roles and to establish less demanding or more activity-based forms of sociability in informal care relations.
Pictures:
University of Siegen
Cooperation:
Honda Research Institute (HRI)
Ruben Albers
Marc Hassenzahl
Workshop with Honda: Telerobotic Superpowers
Workshop with Honda: Positive Possibilities
Workshop with Honda: First Concepts
Workshop with Honda: Telerobotic Superpowers
Developing storyboards for three videos with the most meaningful concepts.
Robotic Housemate: Partly transforms its shapes and behaviors into those of the operator. Is still active when not operated. It allows to be ›present‹ 24/7 at the elderly person's home.
Remote Cooperation: Allows the operator to split up into several body parts at the home of the elderly person. Provides the special experience of multitasking while always in dialogue.
Reverse Visit: Enables an elderly person to travel to far away places and to take part at social life. Taking the shape of a ball the person is able to jump or hide in non-human ways.
Robotic Housemate: Partly transforms its shapes and behaviors into those of the operator. Is still active when not operated. It allows to be ›present‹ 24/7 at the elderly person's home.