Doppelgangers in social space; man and humanoids 

For decades, robotic technologies and science fiction have promised liberation from dangerous and unpleasant work in the field of industrial production and some of this has come true. Coming from science fiction to the factories, humanoid robots are now start to show their presence in our daily lives and spaces of the everyday.

According to the research agendas of the major industrial nations, robots, especially humanoid robots, will soon take over a large variety of chores in our daily lives. But humanoids will not only take over chores. A fusion of Artificial Intelligence with robotics will provide services for everyday life which will not only satisfy individual desires but also tackle social issues.

Architecture, so fare is concerned with fabrication robotics only. It’s time to take care about the social and cultural aspects of robotics – of social and humanoid robots.

Humanoid robots will become essential parts of our lifeworld. Human wishes for humanoids are being expressed in a variety of phantasies, from butlers to entertainers, sex partners and buddies. But in the forefront of research agendas are the so-called assistive robots for care of the aged. This allows a new autonomous and mobile kind of technology to penetrate deeply into the private and intimate spaces of human life. In urgency to govern the emergent robot development, the European Committee published a draft report on “Civil Law Rules on Robotics”. Here privacy, general well-being, and job-loss through automation are the main issues raised. Surprisingly, there is next to nothing on changes in public, semi-public, private, and intimate spaces – that is, of cultural spaces.

The course ultimately is probing the introduction of humanoid robotics technology in cultural spaces. It invites to sketch out concepts on living with robots that might lead to various kinds of robot cultures. Anthropomorphic machines are understood in being able to support humans without requiring changes in the human environment. For example, the human like shape and motion is supposed to allow for behavior similar to humans in the intimate physical and social spaces. Crucial for the acceptance of robot assistants are their social abilities, which in turn are situated in space.

Here we find new challenges for architecture:

Is it indeed likely that human spaces will not change with the advent of the new technology? What kind of relationships can we enter with such a creation of human phantasies - in addition to our relationships with other humans, machines, animals and plants? What cultural biases could these contraptions help to form as compared to existing cultures? How will the elements of our daily lives transform when robots become autonomous partners for the most of the people? What properties does a space have that is housing not only living organisms but also autonomous, mobile machines? 

These questions are broad and there a many more of them to answer today. In the course we will break those questions down, by means of literature and debate, to develop architecture ideas. Those will be turned into visions of a joyous and augmented life with this new breed of technology call humanoids. Writing your vision into a seminar paper concludes this course.

The course can be held bilingual (German/English). As an introduction into the subject, a few texts will be read and discussed in the seminar during the first weeks. These texts (mostly English) are continually updated on TISS.

Phases of the semester for the preparation of the term paper:
Development of a research question accompanied by individual research.
A presentation on a selected text from the bibliography.
Writing a scientific abstract (Exposée) and its presentation.
Short, recurring interim presentations on the state of work and the structure of the argument (developing and detailing exposé).
Preparation of the term paper (submission in July).

Literature

Space

Delvaux Mady, Report with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics. Committee on Legal Affairs. 27.1.2017 [10.2.2018: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A8-2017-0005+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN]

Lefebvre, H. The Production of Space; Blackwell: Oxford, UK, 1991.

Günzel, S. Raumwissenschaften (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft); Suhrkamp: Berlin, Germany, 2008.

Dünne, J. Raumtheorie: Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft); Suhrkamp: Berlin, Germany, 2006.

Van de Ven, C. Space in Architecture, The evolution of a new idea in the theory and history of the modern movements, van Gorcum, Assen, 1980.

Culture

Jimena, C., Krajewski, M. Little Helpers. About Demons, Angels and Other Servants, Interdisciplinary Science Review, 2012

Brandstetter Thomas, The Lives of Mechanical Servants, Interdisciplinary Science Review, 2012

Samani, et al, Cultural robotics: The culture of robotics and robotics in culture, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2013

Mathur, Maya, Reichling, David Navigating a social world with robot partners: A quantitative cartography of the Uncanny Valley, Cognition, 2016

Mirnig Nicole et al, Face-to-face with a robot: what do we actually talk about? International Journal of Humanoid Robotics Vol. 10, No. 1 2013

Technology

Haraway Donna, Emergent Naturecultures in: The Companion Species Manifesto Dogs, People and Significant Otherness, Prickly paradigm press, Chicago

Lin, P. Abney, K.; Bekey, G.A. Robot Ethics; MIT-Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2015.

M. Coeckelbergh: Humans, Animals, and Robots: A Phenomenological Approach to Human-Robot Relations. International Journal of Social Robotics 3, pp. 197-204, 2011.

Simondon, G. Die Existenzweise technischer Objekte; Diaphanes: Zürich, Switzerland, 2012.

Winner, L. Do Artifacts have Politics? In: The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology; University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL, USA, 1987.

Written academic paper. Due July 2017.