SCLG6902Research Proposal

Andra Keay 309345332

What’s in a name?

“The Naming of Robots”My research proposal is to analyze the production of identity in robot design

by examining naming practices in research robot competitions and exploring the history of robot names.

Are robot names gendered?

• Robot competitions set benchmarks for research in rapidly evolving field. • Classifications/taxonomy appear fluid but reproduce hegemonic values.• Phonology studies and Implicit Assumption (Harvard) reveal our biases.• Methodology: Grounded theory - feminist post-positivist - Donna Haraway• Aim: relevant to robotics/technology and cultural studies/humanities• Limitations: Cultural Studies discipline – abstract textual undefined• Limitations: Masters project – 12,000 to 15,000 words – 6 months.

Cultural Studies & Robotics• Cultural studies ‘lacks an established methodology and even a well-

defined object’ Meaghan Morris, 1993. Australian Cultural Studies.

• ‘The project of taking popular culture seriously as a site of struggles over identity, value and power (is) one of the most versatile areas of study..’ Ien Ang, 2006. From Cultural Studies to Cultural Research.

• Making it up as you go is vital. Angela McRobbie, 1992. Post-Marxism Cultural Studies.

• No expert agrees on what a robot is – only that they work on them.• ISO 8373 - definition of robot can describe a microwave or dishwasher.• As robots become mass produced consumer objects and leave the

research environment, most become simply machines or vehicles.• Very low academic standards in robotics research due to field in flux –

focus on staying ahead of everyone else. Angel del Polbil, 2008. EURON Projects.

Over 100 robot competitions each year, with 1000s of robots and teams from universities and schools and more than $1,000,000 in prizes, plus prestige!

Artifacts have politics• Pervasive and continual gender bias in robotics and STEM. What else?• Robotics functions with naïve technological determinism, however social

shaping of technology approach ignores materiality or agency of ‘stuff’.• Technologies are either explicitly or inherently political. Langdon Winner, 1986.

• Robotics is a liminal space – defined by whoever is doing it.• Culture/Robotics/Culture - Reflexive circle.• Naming fixes concepts; Material/semiotic object (Haraway), Symbolic

power (Bourdieu), Identity and interface (Turkle).• Gaps in knowledge! Focus on HCI/psychology/design not social/cultural• Grounded theory starts with some ideas and desire to explore an area,

collect data and then to adjust the hypotheses.

Phonology & Freakonomics• Gender is basic classificatory system. Pierre Bourdieu, 1980. The Logic of Practice.

• Levitt’s large study showed high correlation between class, gender & name - with names moving downwards in economic position and gender.

• Although the English language is not explicitly gendered, most people recognize masculine or feminine sounding words through structural cues or phonology, not memory – suggesting deep symbolic meanings.

• Classification by gender (Bern’s sex role index) M, F, A, U. • Classification by human/animal/machine. • Classification by shape/structure.• Classification by function/use.• Classification by competition.

Meet the Robots

Haraway• Background - Zoologist, Biologist, Philosopher.• “Situated knowledges” – between the essentialism of feminist standpoint

theory and postmodernism’s relativism and apolitical differentiation.• Haraway is relational not relativistic.• “Responsibility” - knowledge is power – like Foucault.• But Haraway is deconstructionist rather than constructivist.• “Material/Semiotic objects” – we are implicated in text as text is in us.• “Metaphor” – nameplay and rhetoric to maintain theoretical complexity.• Difficult theorist to put into practice but apt for the naming of robots.

Frankenstein

was the name of the doctor.

The monster was denied both a name and a mate.

The Naming of Robots:• Cultural history using Haraway’s theories (material/semiotic, nameplay)• Collection of names of research robots (grounded/limited) to develop a

theory of the role of identification (and gender) in the cycle of robotics research and correlation with robot function, shape or role.

• To demonstrate results with searchable database and web quiz/collection tool for more data collection. (see your sample!)

• To extend the naming project by; – requesting more data from competition organisers– qualitative i/vs with 10-12 robotics researchers (in situ)– participant observation at robotics competitions, workshops and labs– observation at education robotics workshops evaluating children’s naming practices

• Questions, suggestions and filling in the sample forms - Thank You!