2024/06/21 by Casey R. Lynch, Bethany N. Manalo, Àlex Muñoz-Viso · 1 citation
Computer Science · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Innovative Human-Technology Interaction #Social Robot Interaction and HRI
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00146-024-01995-z
openalex publication_date 2024/06/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract Bringing human–robot interaction (HRI) into conversation with scholarship from human geography, this paper considers how socially interactive robots become important agents in the production of social space and explores the utility of core geographic concepts of scale and place to critically examine evolving robotic spatialities. The paper grounds this discussion through reflections on a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project studying the development and deployment of interactive museum tour-guiding robots on a North American university campus. The project is a collaboration among geographers, roboticists, a digital artist, and the directors/curators of two museums, and involves experimentation in the development of a tour-guiding robot with a “socially aware navigation system” alongside ongoing critical reflection into the socio-spatial context of human–robot interactions and their future possibilities. The paper reflects on the tensions between logics of control and contingency in robotic spatiality and argues that concepts of scale and place can help reflect on this tension in a productive way while calling attention to a broader range of stakeholders who should be included in robotic design and deployment.