Newswise — Robots can already vacuum our floors, help manufacture cars, provide security and entertain children and adults alike, but how could robotics revolutionize care and maintenance in home and institutional settings?
A team from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts is imagining the future of care and is inviting the public to co-create with them.
Ash Eliza Smith, assistant professor of emerging media arts; Sam Bendix, creative technologist; and Reid Brockmeier, creative technologist, set up the temporary Speculative Robotics Lab and is welcoming visitors during open lab hours on Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., through March 28. The lab is in the Innovation Advancement Suites, Suite 1250, Office 8, in Innovation Commons, 2021 Transformation Drive.
“We're really interested in what the future of care looks like, and redefining what care is and looks like in terms of thinking about what role robotics can play in that future,” Bendix said.
During the open hours, participants are first led through a series of questions — developed with assistance from Juila McQuillan, Willa Cather Professor of sociology — to begin the brainstorming process. Then, visitors are asked to think speculatively about the future — creating speculative devices, narratives and scenarios. Visitors are invited to role play with the robots, put themselves in virtual settings using a green screen and imagine scenarios where robots might be helpful when thinking about assistance for elderly people, those recovering from surgery, those who have disabilities and beyond. The team is also engaging thinking about the ecosystems surrounding the person needing care, such as children, plants and pets.
The SRL has robots on hand from the Carson Center and Nebraska Innovation Studio for visitors to work with — no previous robotics experience needed — and visitors are encouraged to interact with them and imagine the possibilities. The SRL was made possible through funding and collaborations with Kyungi Kim, assistant professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, John Strope, program coordinator for robotics at Nebraska Innovation Studio, and Nebraska Innovation Campus.
“We’ve set it up as a kind of what we call in gaming a 'magic circle' or play area, and we’re inviting the community to role play how they might use robots in a hospital room or a house to help someone with no or low mobility,” Smith said. “The other day, we had someone thinking about how a robot could help someone in their home make zucchini bread where they had low mobility.”
The team is also using the lab open hours to collect data to inform future methodologies in speculative development research.
“We're using techniques that some people might think are just entertainment — cinema, theater, gaming — but we're using them to co-design the future, so we’re prototyping a brand-new methodology in this space,” Smith said. "This is a methodology that could be used in science labs and other disciplines, as well."
Having the robots on-hand in the pop-up lab space is also a unique opportunity for the public to interact with these new technologies, which is also a benefit, as the group sensed fear about robots and humanity’s collective future with them during the first two open sessions.
The team is thinking about the future of how robots are built and programmed — beyond replicating humanoids — including what happens with the use of softer materials and how they could move beyond human-like motion.
“We’re giving people the opportunity to work with the robots and be in the space with them — having an experience different from what they’ve seen portrayed in TV, film and popular media — and letting them have an idea, see it acted out and thinking about robots in a way maybe they haven’t before,” Brockmeier said.
Having people think about how robotics can be a tool, rather than something to be fearful of, can open doors to ideas for future designs and development, Smith said.
“I think there is a lot of anxiety about robots, and it’s good to have these conversations,” Smith added. “Care really affects everyone, whether it be an elderly family member, a pet or a child, and we know there are shortages of workers — in-home health, assisted living, nurses — the burnout and turnover rate is big, and we’re asking people to imagine how we can fill those gaps.”
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