Of robots and humans: Creating user representations in practice

Area of Science:

• Human-Robot Interaction
• Science and Technology Studies (STS)
• Design Studies

Background:

• The increasing prevalence of robotics and artificial intelligence necessitates understanding user representation in design.
• Existing research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) highlights challenges engineers face in accurately conceptualizing users.
• The social context and specific design settings have been underexplored in relation to user representation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how user representations of robots are constituted within design practice.
• To explore the entanglement of user representations with design activities.
• To propose new concepts for understanding these dynamics in robotics design.

Main Methods:

• Ethnographic research conducted in two distinct robot laboratories.
• Analysis of design activities and their influence on user image formation.
• Development of theoretical concepts to capture the observed phenomena.

Main Results:

• User representations of robots emerge dynamically within and are intertwined with design activities.
• Engineering practices directly shape the user images that designers create.
• The study introduces 'image-evoking activities' and 'user image landscape' as key concepts.

Conclusions:

• Design practices are critical in co-constituting the user images developed by engineers.
• Greater attention to the specific locales of robot and technology design is needed.
• Findings have implications for fears of robots replacing humans, user involvement strategies, and STS user studies.