"and This, Kids, Is How i Met Your Mother": Consumerist, Mundane, and Uncanny Futures with Sex Robots

Giovanni Maria Troiano, Matthew Wood, Casper Harteveld

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sex Robots are no longer science fiction and may soon be-come widespread. While much discussion has developed in academia on their moral and social impact, sex robots have yet to be examined from a critical design perspective and are under-explored in HCI. We use the Story Completion Method(SCM) to explore commonplace assumptions around futures with sex robots and discuss those from a critical design perspective. Thirty five participants completed a story stem of a human encountering a sex robot or vice-versa. Through thematic analysis, we show narratives of consumerist relation-ships between humans and sex robots, stories that describe sex robots as highly-efficient sex workers that (out)perform humans in routinal sex activities, and narratives that explore sex robots as empathetic and sentient beings. Our participant-created stories both reinforce and challenge established norms of sex robots and raise questions that concern responsible design and ethics in HCI. Finally, we show opportunities and limitations of using multiple-perspective story stems in SCM.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherACM
ISBN (Electronic)9781450367080
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Apr 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event2020 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2020 - Honolulu, United States
Duration: 25 Apr 202030 Apr 2020

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2020 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu
Period25/04/2030/04/20

Keywords

  • ethics
  • human-robot interaction
  • research fiction
  • sex robots
  • sexual HCI
  • speculative design
  • story completion method

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