5. 5
I ROBOT FICTION INFLUENCE(D) THEIR DESIGN 24
“Robots are popular culture. There
isn’t any “knock-off” possible
there; it’s been knock-off from the
get-go. It’s like worrying about
somebody “knocking-off” cowboy
movies.”
Bruce Sterling
6. 6
I CULTURAL ELEMENTS CIRCULATION (ZIMMERMANN, 2010) 24
7. 7
I ASSUMPTIONS EMBEDDED INTO OBJECTS (AKRICH, 1992) 24
these assumptions influence
robot design (consciously or not)
8. 8
II ROBOT IDIOMS 24
robot, droid, android, bot, bioroid,
cyborg...
Asimo (Asimov), irobot (Asimov’
book), GOLEM (jewish fictional
character), Hadaly (Villiers de l’Isle
d’Dam’s fictional android), ELIZA
(after Bernard Shaw’s theatre play)
-> influence on what robots do/are
9. 9
II RECURRING TROPE 1: THE SHAPE(S) OF ROBOTS 24
pool-cleaner
robot-objects vacuum-cleaner
automatic car
lawn-mower
android
bio-mimetic robots robotic arm
zoomorphic robot
4-legged (dog)
2-legged (duck)
No legs (snake, fish)
10. 10
II RECURRING TROPE 1: THE SHAPE(S) OF ROBOTS 24
“the android is a solution
waiting for a problem”
Mark Meadows
11. 11
II RECURRING TROPE 1: THE SHAPE(S) OF ROBOTS 24
Study conducted at Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne (2008)
about people’s feeling towards robots
12. 12
II WHAT THE ROBOT IDEA TAUGHT US... 24
robots in scifi introduced the
idea that objects can have
“personality”, a behavior
13. 13
II SHOULD ROBOTS BE MIMETIC? 24
“it becomes real by behaving
real, by demonstrating the
behavior of things that are real”
Kevin Slavin
14. 14
II RECURRING TROPE 2: ROBOT BEHAVIOR (ASIMOV) 24
17. 17
II IS LAW 2 APPLICABLE? (KAPLAN, 2001) 24
how to define a “human”?
how to define “harm”?
18. 18
II RECURRING TROPE 4: AUTOMATION 24
ambivalence: control
versus automation
19. 19
III BUT SCI-FI IS NOT JUST A GADGET CATALOGUE... 24
“Implications not just applications” Antony Dunne
"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the
automobile but the traffic jam" Frederik Pohl
20. 20
III ... SCI-FI AND PROBLEMS... 24
“The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.(...)
payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted
a mandatory fee. Not a tip.
(...)
From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless
steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew
the bolt assembly of his apt’s money-gulping door. “I’ll
sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out.Joe Chip
said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can
live through it.”
Philip K. Dick: Ubik
21. 21
III TODAY’S PROBLEM 24
‘The fact that the robot couldn't
tell if it was a good time to
interrupt was a big problem for the
nursing staff: "I called it nasty
names and told it, 'Would you shut
the hell up? Can't you see I'm on
the phone? If you say "TUG has
arrived" one more time I'm going to
kick you in your camera.' "Some
staff members actually did lash
out and kick TUG in frustration’
New Scientist, 2010: http://cli.gs/
T7VH6e
22. 22
IV CO-CONSTRUCTION 24
“Human Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies” by Schmitz,
Endres & Butzi (2008)
films cite existing technology
technology films inspire
inspire films new technology
filmmakers and technologists
developed shared new visions
23. THANK YOU MERCI GRACIAS DANKE GRAZIE
NICOLAS NOVA
nicolas@liftlab.com
www.liftlab.com
24. 24
REFERENCES 24
Article references
Slide 5: Dreaming of Robots: An Slide 13: Slavin, K. (2011). Reality Is Slide 22: Schmitz, M., Endres, C. & Butz,
Interview with Bruce Sterling, acm Plenty, Thanks. MoMo Amsterdam, A. (2008). A survey of human-computer
interactions, march-april 2005. http://www.youtube.com/watch? interaction design in science fiction
Slide 6: Zimmermann, B. (2010). v=o03wWtWASW4 movies, Proceeding of INTETAIN '08
Redesigning Culture: Chinese Characters Slide 15: Weld, D. & Etzioni, O. (1994). Proceedings of the 2nd international
in Alphabet-Encoded Networks”, Design The first law of robotics (a call to arms), conference on INtelligent TEchnologies
and Culture, 2-1, 27-43. Proceeding AAAI'94 Proceedings of the for interactive enterTAINment
Slide 7: Akrich, M. (1992), "The twelfth national conference on Artificial
description of technical objects", in intelligence (vol. 2).
Bijker, W.E., Law, J. (Eds),Shaping Slide 16: Murphy, R.R. and Woods, D.
Technology/Building Society, MIT Press. (2009). Beyond Asimov: The Three Laws
Slide 10: Meadows, M. (2010). We, of Responsible Robotics IEEE Intelligent
Robot. The Lyons Press Systems, pp. 14–20
Slide 11: Ray, C., Mondada, F. & Slide 17: Kaplan, F. (2001). Un robot
Siegwart, R. (2008). What do people peut-il être notre ami ?. In Orlarey, Y.,
expect from robots? IEEE International editor, L'Art, la pensée, les émotions,
Conference on Intelligent Robots and pages 99-106.
Systems, pp. 3816-3821.