Borrowing, Poking and Entangling. In Search of Shared Spaces Between Science and Technology Studies and Human-Robot Interaction

Abstract

In this paper, we reflect on the disciplinary foundations and dominant practices in the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) from the perspective of our own experience ofworking interdisciplinarily and drawing on colleagues' ongoing work that transcends disciplinary boundaries. As a part of this reflection, we explore possibilities for the field's theoretical and methodological expansion, which we contend is needed, given the rapid expansion of robotic technologies in the real world settings.We argue the field of science and technology studies (STS) can be a valuable collaborator and contributor in the process of negotiating disciplinary boundaries of HRI and advancing the field beyond common narratives of technological solutionism and determinism. We frame STS as a field with a strong tradition of studying social and political embeddedness of science and technology, and how these are co-constitutive and co-emergent. STS also investigates the roles and responsibility different actors share in this process. To further explore how the interfacing between STS and HRI can be enacted, we sketch out three modes of interdisciplinary collaboration we call i) Borrowing, ii) Poking and iii) Entangling. We argue that each of these modes comes with advantages, disadvantages and challenges. In the conclusion, we engage the notions of "thinking with care" and disciplinary reflexivity, as an invitation to fellow scholars to consider which disciplinary assumptions are brought to the table when enacting different modes of interfacing between HRI and STS, and how these are entangled with the goals and (desired) outcomes of research practices.