Lecture 12 - Social artificial agents in modern society

Question 1

Characteristics of social artificial agents

Answer 1

• Social presence (taal, interactiviteit etc.)
• Sentience (Intenties, intelligentie etc.)
• Agency (Autonomie, omgeving waarnemen etc.)
• Embodiment (materiaal/uiterlijk)
• Purpose & functions (Educatie, entertainment etc.)

Question 2

Building social artificial agents

Answer 2

• Agent design
• User factors
• Interaction setting

Question 3

Agent design

Answer 3

Design features
* Embodiment
* Features
* Signalled sentience, agency, social presence

Question 4

User factors

Answer 4

User’s perspective
* Perceived sentience, agency, social presence
* Reaction (cognitive-affective)
* Engagement & acceptance
* Perceived realism
* Subjective relevance

Question 5

Interaction setting

Answer 5

Context
* Audience demographics
* Interaction goal
* Environment
* Ethics & legality

Question 6

types of robots

Answer 6

Factory and industrial robots (eg. mining) –> task driven
Cobots (collaborative robots) (e.g. surgical) –> task driven
Social robots (robot pets) –> relationship-driven
Social assistive robots (e.g.c caregiver) –> task& relationship driven

Question 7

Benefits of robots in healthcare

Answer 7

• Mitigate personnel & resources shortage
• Increase level of attention
• Promote treatment adherence
• Associated with improvements in health and well being

Question 8

Concerns of robots in healthcare

Answer 8

• Fear of loss of human contact
• Infantilization (of adults)
• Deception & privacy

Question 9

Benefits of robots in education

Answer 9

• Mitigate personnel & resources shortage
• Facilitate classroom management
• Provide alternative learning experiences
• Promote engagement & enjoyment
• Improve learning outcomes

Question 10

Concerns of robots in education

Answer 10

• Fear of loss of human contact
• Artificial agents handle unpredictability
  and chaos poorly
• Physical hazards (malfunction or abuse)
• Enabling undesirable behaviour
  (bullying)
• Agent inflexibility not suitable for
  education
• Toy or educational device?

Question 11

Benefits robots in hospitality/service/entertainment

Answer 11

• In-between machine
• Novelty & user engagement
• Can promote self-disclosure, increase
  sense of intimacy and connectedness
• Can get away with violations to social
  rules