People+Technology+Culture
The Naked Android (CRC Press/Routledge, expected 2023) is about how humans position AI and robots conceptually in relation to us, the (always-changing) cultural significance of robots as objects, experiences, tools, and artifacts and how these factors impact everything from robotic concepts to research and development direction, design, advertising messages, and integration into culture.
Robots are quickly becoming indispensable tools and partners. This book offers an important perspective and vivid examples of how we humans interact with robots. It will be valuable to anyone interested in the very real emotional, sociological, and practical challenges associated with bringing robots into our lives.
— Woodrow N. Hartzog, Associate Professor, Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, and Affiliate Scholar at Stanford Law School/The Center for Internet and Society
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel are some of the most highly trained people in the military, with a job description that spans defusing unexploded ordnance to protecting VIPs and state dignitaries. EOD are also one of the first military groups to work with robots every day. These robots have become an increasingly important tool in EOD work, enabling people to work at safer distances in many dangerous situations. Based on exploratory research investigating interactions between EOD personnel and the robots they use, this study richly describes the nuances of these reciprocal influences, especially those related to operator emotion associated with the robots. In particular, this book examines the activities, processes and contexts that influence or constrain everyday EOD human-robot interactions, what human factors are shaping the (robotic) technology and how people and culture are being changed by using it. The findings from this research have implications for future personnel training, and the refinement of robot design considerations for many fields that rely on critical small group communication and decision-making skills.
Contents: Foreword by Lt. Col. Michael Kolb, Ph.D,; Preface. Part I Narratives: Introduction; Learning by experience; Explosive ordnance disposal stories. Part II Metaphors: Introduction; Our emotional engines; Meaningful connections with non-human things; Robot design as rhetoric. Part III Patterns: Introduction; The ecological system of U.S. military EOD work; Action formation; Preparing to repair; Transformational shifts. Appendices; References; Index.
From Ashgate/Routledge’s site, a printer-friendly version of the book information sheet.
ISBN: 9781472443113
Bookstores and librarians, this book would fit into: Culture, Defense, Design, Emerging Technologies, Ethics, Ethnography, Learning Sciences, Military, Robotics, Technical Communication. Contact Routledge/Taylor & Francis directly for more information or orders. All review copy requests from stores, libraries, media, or other sources must go through Routledge/Taylor & Francis: https://www.routledge.com/posts/9236/contact
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Also available now is the anthology volume Robot Sex: Social and ethical implications (MIT Press), that includes my chapter Deus Sex Machina: Loving Robot Sex Workers, and the allure of an insincere kiss.