Affective Responses to Embodied Intelligence. The Test-Cases of Spot, Kaspar, and Zeno

The design, planning, and public presentation of service robots is gradually eroding the traditional distinction between social robots and service robots. This paper concentrates on one service robot (Spot) and two humanoid robots employed in the therapy of children diagnosed with ASD (Kaspar and Zeno). The paper argues that 1) Spot, which looks like a dog but is clearly identifiable as a machine, is less likely than Kaspar and Zeno to provoke the so-called uncanny valley effect. 2) The symbolic connotations associated with the robot’s appearance are positive in the case of the two humanoid robots, while Spot elicits opposite responses depending on the context of use (e.g. trust in an industrial facility/fear and outrage when employed by the police in an underfunded neighbourhood). 3) Kaspar and Zeno play a positive role in a therapeutic setting, as affective mediators between neurotypical adults and children diagnosed with ASD, but the claim that they help children to recognise emotions is overstated. 4) Fears connected with weaponised robots built by other companies in imitation of Spot invite reflections on the mutual shaping between technology, society and politics.