Enabling Social Interiors: Innovating Design in Assistive Robotics

DARE is an interdisciplinary project in social (assistive) robotics that combines philosophical expertise (social phenomenology, ethics), qualitative field research focused on knowledge of health and assistive technology, and constructive design research. With focus on assistive robotics for independent living of older adults, the DARE project will investigate the complex interplay between the dynamics of value hierarchies (e.g., autonomy vs. dignity), self-conceptions in aging, and robot appearance. Drawing on recent design studies of shape-changing objects, we introduce a new design category, “enabling social interiors”, and investigate how it can support positive conceptions of aging. The project is relevant for the physical and kinematic design of social robots in general, since it investigates the contextual relationship between value experience, social cues in robotic movements, and acceptance of robots.