Delineating the Hybridity of Robotic Artifacts

Abstract

Designing robots that people can relate to and understand requires shaping their embodiment and behavior in service of their purpose and use, without getting stuck in predominant robot stereotypes. With this work, we delineate the hybridity of robotic artifacts and discuss leveraging hybridity towards more thoughtful design. In an online study, we asked 103 participants to look at videos featuring robots being active in different contexts. After each video, participants were asked to share their impressions of the robots through questionnaires designed to evaluate four aspects: (1) ontological categorization, (2) behavioral attributions, (3) interaction considerations, and (4) perceived value. Through an interpretative analysis, the hybridity of robotic artifacts is delineated by tracing back responses of participants on the questionnaire items to its video contents through visual inspection. We discuss how the hybridity of robotic artifacts can be traced back to three distinct framings - products for use, social actors, and animate entities - that inform their perceived functional and affective value. Furthermore, we explore how these framings can merge into more complex configurations, including portrayals of robots as objects with intent, as entities that reveal a spectrum of more-than-human sociabilities, and as prompts for discussions about human-robot coexistences. We conclude by reflecting on these findings to consider how leveraging hybridity can inform more thoughtful design approaches in human-robot interaction.