Android, Assembled: The Explicit and Implicit Anatomy of Social Robots (Digital Formations, 126)

Android, Assembled unpacks the phenomenon of social robots―not as monolithic machines but as sociotechnical assemblages, pieced together from bodily features (like heads and sensors) and the elements we read into them (like gender and authority). Each chapter explores the philosophical, theoretical, empirical, or technical understanding of discrete robot components to offer a deeper look into how those parts contribute to what social robots are and how humans experience them. Part I (Explicit Anatomy) considers the manifest components of robots―those that make up the physical robot and its capabilities: Shapes, heads, faces, eyes, legs, feet, wings, color, clothing, gestures, postures, speech, text, screens, memory, information, sensors, actuators, organic elements, and distributed elements. Part II (Implicit Anatomy) explores the parts of social robots that humans infer or interpret: Image, interactivity, cuteness, gender, power, authority, membership, cognition, decision-making, aliveness, mindedness, obligations, and ultimately the kind of thing a robot is. Along with the state of the art and science, each author gives a provocation to highlight open questions and possible futures.

Jaime Banks (Ph.D., Colorado State University) is Associate Professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University (New York, USA). Her research focuses on the dynamics and effects of human-machine relations, with an emphasis on social robots, artificial intelligence, and videogame avatars.