Cognition and emotions in Japanese humanoid robotics

Frumer, Yulia

doi:10.1080/07341512.2018.1544344

“…Due to these prevalent negative stereotypes, adoption of this now realizing technology has been relatively slow in North America, juxtaposed with the quicker embracement in Japan and China proving the positive opportunities for robots helping in schools, hospitals, and elderly care (Breazeal, 2004;Shaw-Garlock, 2009). In these countries, cultural associations are more positive due to the dominating Shinto religion's concept of kami, a life-force essence, applied to all objects including machines rendering them to be considered alive and thus eligible for respect and dignity (Frumer, 2018). Although there is also the paradigm of "good" robots in Western narratives such as the humorous duo of C-3PO and R2D2 in Star Wars, the Iron Giant, Wall-E, or Optimus Prime in Transformers, acceptance has still been limited.…”

Section: The Problem (And Solution) Of Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology

Neve

2024

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Past research has established that since robots are not yet common in Western society, most people’s views are based on how they are represented in science fiction versus current reality (Bruckenberger et al., 2013; Teo, 2021). This is the foundational problem for robots as a unique technology where common understanding is based on predisposed stereotypes from decades of pop culture, which can represent an impediment to acceptance. This paper acts as a case study on how media can be leveraged to influence audience acceptance of new technology such as social robots. I evaluate this by measuring the baseline of attitudes towards robots, probing the sources of these beliefs including how they are informed by pop culture, then subsequently quantifying how exposure to nonfiction media can reshape these embedded notions. The goal is to test if there is a lift in positive sentiment when shown marketing videos of an existing robot Pepper by Softbank Robotics. This study had mixed results revealing there is a high degree of skepticism in audiences regarding robots which is a hurdle that must be addressed and overcome to effectively integrate into future society. This MRP is a first account at developing insights for companies and governments on how to successfully drive acceptance of this new technology to facilitate successful HumanRobot Interaction (HRI). The goal is to situate HRI at the intersection of media theory, to analyze diffusion of innovation from a perspective of audience, influence, and acceptance.

show abstract

“…Due to these prevalent negative stereotypes, adoption of this now realizing technology has been relatively slow in North America, juxtaposed with the quicker embracement in Japan and China proving the positive opportunities for robots helping in schools, hospitals, and elderly care (Breazeal, 2004;Shaw-Garlock, 2009). In these countries, cultural associations are more positive due to the dominating Shinto religion's concept of kami, a life-force essence, applied to all objects including machines rendering them to be considered alive and thus eligible for respect and dignity (Frumer, 2018). Although there is also the paradigm of "good" robots in Western narratives such as the humorous duo of C-3PO and R2D2 in Star Wars, the Iron Giant, Wall-E, or Optimus Prime in Transformers, acceptance has still been limited.…”

Section: The Problem (And Solution) Of Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology

Neve

2024

Preprint

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Past research has established that since robots are not yet common in Western society, most people’s views are based on how they are represented in science fiction versus current reality (Bruckenberger et al., 2013; Teo, 2021). This is the foundational problem for robots as a unique technology where common understanding is based on predisposed stereotypes from decades of pop culture, which can represent an impediment to acceptance. This paper acts as a case study on how media can be leveraged to influence audience acceptance of new technology such as social robots. I evaluate this by measuring the baseline of attitudes towards robots, probing the sources of these beliefs including how they are informed by pop culture, then subsequently quantifying how exposure to nonfiction media can reshape these embedded notions. The goal is to test if there is a lift in positive sentiment when shown marketing videos of an existing robot Pepper by Softbank Robotics. This study had mixed results revealing there is a high degree of skepticism in audiences regarding robots which is a hurdle that must be addressed and overcome to effectively integrate into future society. This MRP is a first account at developing insights for companies and governments on how to successfully drive acceptance of this new technology to facilitate successful HumanRobot Interaction (HRI). The goal is to situate HRI at the intersection of media theory, to analyze diffusion of innovation from a perspective of audience, influence, and acceptance.

show abstract

Robot and ukiyo-e: implications to cultural varieties in human–robot relationships

Sakura

¹

2021

AI & Soc

4

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The social and cultural causes behind the widespread use and acceptance of robots in Japan are not yet completely understood. This study compares humans and robots in images gathered through Google searches in Japanese and in English. Numerous pictures obtained by the search in Japanese were found to have a human and a robot looking together at something else (“third item”), whereas many of the images acquired by search in English show a human and a robot facing each other. This is similar to the composition of mother and child in paintings: in ukiyo-e that was painted mainly in the Edo period of Japan, the mother and child are often depicted together viewing something other than themselves, whereas this is not the case in Western paintings of mother and child. It has also been pointed out that, in modern Western paintings, the world inside the picture is separated from the outside world, forming an independent microcosmos, whereas the inside and outside are continuous in Japanese paintings. These may indicate that, in Japanese society, robots are to a certain extent regarded as fellow human beings who can share the third item. In Western society, on the other hand, no code is embedded that can fix robots’ superiority or inferiority to humans, which would easily trigger an antagonistic view toward artificial intelligence (AI)/robots as threatening entities, as shown in most of Western literature and movies. We suggest that such cultural characteristics of Japanese society can contribute to enhance coexistence with AI/robots.

show abstract

Cognition and emotions in Japanese humanoid robotics

Cited by 8 publications

References 33 publications

How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology

How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology

How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology

Robot and ukiyo-e: implications to cultural varieties in human–robot relationships

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About