Caring for robots: How care comes to matter in human-machine interfacing.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Robotics
• Sociology of Technology

Background:

• The increasing aging population necessitates innovative solutions for elder care.
• Care robots are being developed to assist older adults, but their integration into daily life presents challenges.
• Understanding the practicalities of human-robot interaction is crucial for successful implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the socio-material conditions of care with robots.
• To analyze the invisible practices of human-machine interfacing in elder care settings.
• To examine the reciprocal nature of care between humans and robots.

Main Methods:

• Video-assisted ethnography of human-robot interaction (HRI) experiments.
• Identification of four key interfacing practices: integrating robots, providing courtesies, user adaptation, and interactional body positioning.
• Focus on the practical efforts involved in making robots 'robot-friendly' and users 'robot-fit'.

Main Results:

• Care robots require significant human effort, functioning as objects of care rather than solely agents of care.
• Four types of interfacing practices were identified: robot integration, mundane courtesies, user adaptation, and establishing interactional corridors.
• Human-machine interfacing involves actively shaping interactions to accommodate the robot's presence and functionality.

Conclusions:

• Care with robots necessitates a symmetrical analysis of human-machine interfacing, recognizing the care humans provide to robots.
• The findings challenge the notion of robots as autonomous caregivers, emphasizing the co-production of care.
• Future research should consider care for the non-human and robotic alongside human-centered approaches in technology design.