Article ID: CBB372141624

Robotics Has a Race Problem (2020)

unapi

If people are inclined to attribute race to humanoid robots, as recent research suggests, then designers of social robots confront a difficult choice. Most existing social robots have white surfaces and are therefore, I suggest, likely to be perceived as White, exposing their designers to accusations of racism. However, manufacturing robots that would be perceived as Black, Brown, or Asian risks representing people of these races as slaves, especially given the historical associations between robots and slaves at the very origins of the project of robotics. The only way engineers might avoid this ethical and political dilemma is to design and manufacture robots to which people will struggle to attribute race. Doing so, however, would require rethinking the relationship between robots and “the social,” which sits at the heart of the project of social robotics. Discussion of the race politics of robots is also worthwhile because of the potential it has to generate insights about the politics of artifacts, the relationship between culture and technology, and the responsibilities of engineers.

...More
Citation URI
data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB372141624

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Similar Citations

Book Neda Atanasoski; Kalindi Vora; (2019)
Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures (/p/isis/citation/CBB025120161/) unapi

Book Blaszczyk, Regina Lee; (2009)
American Consumer Society, 1865--2005: From Hearth to HDTV (/p/isis/citation/CBB001201132/) unapi

Book Nicholas Carr; (2015)
The Glass Cage: Where Automation is Taking Us (/p/isis/citation/CBB149074760/) unapi

Article Magnet, Shoshana; (2013)
Robots and Insects: Gender, Sexuality, and Engagement in “Mixed Societies” of Cockroaches and Robots (/p/isis/citation/CBB001201147/) unapi

Article Castañeda, Claudia; Suchman, Lucy; (2014)
Robot Visions (/p/isis/citation/CBB001421174/) unapi

Article Kilgore, D. W. D.; (2010)
Difference Engine: Aliens, Robots, and Other Racial Matters in the History of Science Fiction (/p/isis/citation/CBB001030937/) unapi

Article Awa Hanane Diagne; Emily Grenon; Syeda Hasan; Holly K. M. Johnstone; Edward Jones-Imhotep; Alexander Offord; Neve Ostry Young; Sarai Rudder; (2024)
The Black Androids: A Chrestomathy (/p/isis/citation/CBB089679321/) unapi

Book Rebecca Retzlaff; Ryan Reft; Phillips de Lucas, Amanda K.,; (2023)
Justice and the Interstates : The racist truth about urban highways (/p/isis/citation/CBB151598469/) unapi

Article Blake, Art M.; (2011)
Audible Citizenship and Audiomobility: Race, Technology, and CB Radio (/p/isis/citation/CBB001035557/) unapi

Article Labelle, Maurice M., Jr.; (2014)
De-Coca-Colonizing Egypt: Globalization, Decolonization, And the Egyptian Boycott of Coca-Cola, 1966--68 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001421510/) unapi

Book Wallace, Maurice O.; Smith, Shawn Michelle; (2012)
Pictures and Progress: Early Photography and the Making of African American Identity (/p/isis/citation/CBB001550214/) unapi

Book Arnold, David J.; (2013)
Everyday Technology: Machines and the Making of India's Modernity (/p/isis/citation/CBB001450217/) unapi

Book Johnston, Andrew Scott; (2013)
Mercury and the Making of California: Mining, Landscape, and Race, 1840--1890 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001550247/) unapi

Article de la Peña, Carolyn; (2010)
The History of Technology, the Resistance of Archives, and the Whiteness of Race (/p/isis/citation/CBB001230634/) unapi

Authors & Contributors
Ambrosetti, Nadia
Blake, Art M.
Blaszczyk, Regina Lee
Carr, Nicholas G.
Castañeda, Claudia
de la Peña, Carolyn
Journals
American Quarterly
Social Studies of Science
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Foundations of Science
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences
Journal of American History
Publishers
Duke University Press
Harlan Davidson, Inc.
Island Press
Random House
University of Chicago Press
University Press of Colorado
Concepts
Technology and culture
Technology and race
Automata; robotics; cyborgs
Technology
Artificial intelligence
Technology and gender
People
Haraway, Donna Jeanne
Mori, Masahiro
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Japan
California (U.S.)
India
Taiwan
Egypt
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment