Peter H. Kahn, Jr. Associate Professor Department of Psychology Box 351525 University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195-1525 206-616-9395 (office) pkahn@u.washington.edu Research Laboratory Roosevelt Commons Building B Suite 400 4311 11th Ave. N.E. Seattle, Washington 98105 Last updated: Thursday, 16-Oct-2008 12:04:01 PDT |
Funding NSF HCC-SGER: Social and Moral Interaction Patterns with a Personified Robot
Abstract A genre of robots has begun to move from the pages of science fiction to the research laboratories, and even into society at large. These robots – personified robots – in various ways and to varying degrees, have a persona, are adaptive and autonomous, and can communicate, learn, use natural cues, and self organize. These robots will become part of people’s everyday social lives. The purpose of this grant is to break open an entirely new approach to the design of such personified robots, an approach that will enhance the social and moral lives of humans interacting with them. Our approach builds on the idea of “interaction patterns.” By an interaction pattern we mean characterizations of essential features of social interaction between humans and robots, specified abstractly enough such that many different instantiations of the pattern can be uniquely realized given different types of robots, purposes, and contexts of use. Consider a simple example of an interaction pattern between humans: When we are introduced to a new person, we often shake hands, say ‘hi,” exchange our names, and perhaps engage in a little chit-chat about the weather. In other cultures, people might bow to one another, or offer a namaste greeting. We can call this universal social activity an “Introduction.” The Introduction facilitates further social interaction. While the Introduction is never enacted exactly the same way twice, the activity is structured, it follows a recognizable pattern. And this pattern is but one of many that can be used to help structure human-robot interaction. [Top] NSF ITR Value Sensitive Design - Integrating values into the design of information and computer systems
Abstract Information technologies often support or undermine enduring human values, and sometimes both at the same time. For example, surveillance cameras in public venues (such as in banks, malls, and airports) increase individual and sometimes national security, but often at the expense of individual privacy. Or large linked medical databases increase efficiency of information flow but can infringe on the trust between patient and doctor. In response to such problems, system designers and researchers (from fields within Information and Computer Science) have focused on such values as physical and psychological wellbeing, intellectual property, universal usability, freedom from bias, privacy, trust, informed consent, moral responsibility, honesty, productivity, and democracy. However, despite the increasing interest in values and system design – and its importance to society at large – there remains a need for an overarching theoretical and methodological framework by which to handle the value dimensions of design work. Over the last eight years, a potentially viable approach has been emerging, called Value Sensitive Design. Value Sensitive Design integrates and iteratively applies three types of investigations: conceptual, empirical, and technical, and seeks to account for human values in a principled manner throughout the design process. This approach has had success on medium-sized NSF-funded projects, and has helped shape several NSF-funded workshops. The purpose of this project is to extend and validate Value Sensitive Design on a large scale. Specifically, we propose to apply Value Sensitive Design to hard but tractable problems across five research strands.
In short, we seek outcomes that contribute meaningfully to society at large not only within each of our five research strands, but in terms of establishing a new value-sensitive approach to system design. [With Batya Friedman, The Information School, University of Washington] [Top] NSF Augmented reality of the natural world and its psychological effects: a value-sensitive design approach
Abstract A large body of diverse research shows that direct experiences with nature have beneficial effects on people's physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. For example, studies have shown that even minimal connection with nature – such as looking at a natural landscape – can reduce immediate and long-term stress, reduce sickness of prisoners, and calm patients before and during surgery. In recent years computer augmentations of the natural world have begun to be inserted into such human/nature interactions, or have the potential to be inserted. For example, currently it is possible to go on-line to garden “remotely” by controlling a robot in a distant garden (a telegarden). Or imagine working in a windowless office that includes a high resolution window-sized plasma display that shows a real-time view of a beautiful local nature area. Such technological augmentations form part of the field of augmented reality – the linking of computation, people, and physical objects and environments. Yet as promising as it appears, and as pervasive as it will probably become, important questions about augmentations of the natural world need to be answered. Namely, is it the case that through such augmentations we can achieve similar psychological effects to their non-augmented natural counterparts? If so, then technology will provide a powerful and pervasive means to foster human well-being: of children, the elderly, and the general population. Or is it the case that in some ways, perhaps many ways, augmented reality of the natural world falls short? Our project represents an early, cohesive, and rigorous effort to answer these questions from the approach of Value-Sensitive Design – an emerging field that seeks to design technology that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. At the heart of our project lies five empirical studies. Studies 1 and 2 involve real-time video (a room with an augmented “window” view; and beliefs about the “truth-value” of augmented reality and the natural world). Studies 3 and 4 involve personal embodied agents (robot pets in children’s lives; and robot pets as companions for the elderly). Study 5 involves telepresence (a telegarden). As a group, these technologies represent a variety of approaches to augmented reality, including a range of user interaction from the one-way information flow of real-time video to highly interactive personal embodied agents. Moreover, all five studies involve cutting edge technology that will likely be deployed on a large scale within five years, and build on an existing non-augmented reality literature that suggests that at least some positive effects could be anticipated by means of the technological augmentations. In each study, we will collect a diverse range of psychological data: physiological, behavioral, and social-cognitive. Each of the five studies can stand alone, and will be analyzed individually. In addition, we will conduct an overarching analysis that brings together all five studies to focus on human values that emerge across a range of augmentations. We anticipate that such values will include psychological well-being, physical well-being, trust, democracy, privacy, ownership and property, moral reciprocity, and environmental sustainability. Our overarching analysis will lead to a comprehensive account of the effects of computer augmented interactions on the human experience of nature, and to an ethical framework for designing and deploying this technology. Taken together, our findings will have will have broad implications. One of the most important benefits is that we will know more about the value-oriented physiological, behavioral, and social-cognitive effects of the technology before the technology diffuses into the marketplace. [Top] |