De Pagter, J. (2022, July 9). Examining cobot futures: Between critical analysis and constructive engagement [Conference Presentation]. EASST 2022, Madrid, Spain.
This contribution is based on the author's participation in a publicly funded project aimed at the democratization of collaborative industrial robots by introducing them to a makerspace. Collaborative robots (cobots) are a type of robotic arms that users can collaborate with in a safe manner. Whereas they are mostly developed for manufacturing purposes, the goal of this project is to make them available more broadly. For that reason, collaborative robots are introduced to a makerspace, which enables public access to the cobot, as well as much more creative use cases compared to manufacturing settings. The project facilitates the cooperation between professional robotics researchers and makerspace members.
At least partly due to the rising attention for societal and ethical issues around robots, the skills of ethicists and social scientists are increasingly considered useful in such ! projects. They have the difficult task to analyze and criticize different practices around a specific technology on the one hand, while on the other hand engaging in the active exploration of the sociotechnical potential of that very same technology. The question is how those two tasks can be combined in order to constructively engage in the development of alternative future imaginaries.
The presentation's contribution can be found in three different aspects. First of all, it asks how the role of social scientists and ethicists can be developed in new ways so as to engage in this critical assessment of new (robotic) futures. Second, it elaborates on the (methodological) tools philosophers and social scientists can use to participate in such projects. Both STS-methodologies as well as ethical/philosophical work are considered in this regard. Finally, but crucially, the goal is to search for new ways of engaging with technological potential, through the development of (speculat! ive) anti cipatory concepts that can help to develop new, inclusive notions of sociotechnical potential.
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Project title:
Cobot Meets Makerspace: 871459 (FFG - Österr. Forschungsförderungs- gesellschaft mbH)
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Research Areas:
Beyond TUW-research foci: 70% Automation and Robotics: 30%