Technocultural research into robotics

Edited by Chris Chesher and Justine Humphry

  • Reflections on Robophilosophy 2024

    Robophilosophy in Aarhus was even better than I expected. Lots of good papers and many nice people working with humanities and social sciences approaches to robots. This theatre performance, called Replik.a, by a Stuttgart troupe, was a highlight. I really was not sure whether the second actor was a human or a robot until I…

  • From novelty to normal: Dining with robot waiters across Kuala Lumpur

    From novelty to normal: Dining with robot waiters across Kuala Lumpur

    Introduction It’s July 2023, and I’m in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with my wife, Cathy, on a mission to explore a trend that has quietly taken root in the city’s dining scene: robot waiters. Once a futuristic novelty popping up in social media feeds, these mechanical servers have begun to settle into the everyday rhythms of…

  • Pepper Parlor

    Pepper Parlor

    Imagine eating morning tea surrounded by social robots. Pepper Parlor is a concept restaurant that offers just that experience.

  • Eye machines: Robot eye, vision and gaze article published

    Eye machines: Robot eye, vision and gaze article published

    The International Journal of Social Robotics has published the article Fiona Andreallo and I wrote on the three dimensions of eye machines: the eye itself, the operation of vision, and the intersubjective significance of the gaze.

  • Philosopher of media and technology, Mark Coeckelbergh visits Sydney

    Philosopher of media and technology, Mark Coeckelbergh visits Sydney

    Mark Coeckelbergh, Professor of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna visited Sydney in November/December 2019. He presented at a Sydney Ideas event ‘Wild AI and tame humans’ on November 18, and led two research workshops.

  • Talking about the robot gaze

    Talking about the robot gaze

    How does it feel when a robot looks you in the eye? In July Michael Garbutt and I recorded a conversation on the robot gaze. The possibility of a robot gaze exposes the ambiguity over the status of the robot as a being or a thing.

  • Beyond anthropomorphism symposium

    Beyond anthropomorphism symposium

    I am helping to organise a symposium with the Sydney Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems called ‘Beyond Anthropomorphism: Rethinking Human-Machine Relations in Robotics and AI’ on June 11 and 12, 2019.

  • Toy robots on YouTube: Consumption and peer production at the robotic moment

    Toy robots on YouTube: Consumption and peer production at the robotic moment

    NEW PUBLICATION: Toy robots on YouTube in Convergence. Robots are increasingly prominent in the popular imagination, partly through people playing with toys and using social media. This article examines a selection of user-created YouTube videos in different genres that reveal how people experiment with toy robots such as the Furby.

  • Robowars at Vivid

    Robowars at Vivid

    Robowars competitors show off their jumping talents.