The promise and perils of social robots

On Friday February 8 (from 12.15-13.15) I moderated a panel discussion about "The promise and perils of social robots" at Etmaal 2019.

Panelists were: dr. Pim Haselager (Radboud University), prof. dr. Elly Konijn (VU), prof. dr. Jochen Peter (UvA) and prof. dr. Nicole Krämer (University of Duisburg-Essen).

We had a very lively panel discussion. Click on the link below to listen to a recording of the panel discussion:

Main questions we discussed:

What behaviour should a robot show to make us believe it has a mind?
What is needed to make robots engaging interaction partners?
To what extent can robots fulfill our social and emotional needs?
How desirable is it to use robots as a substitute for human companionship?

I asked the four panelists to come with their own statement on social robots:

Pim Haselager: “Human-robot interaction will remain a struggle for a long time”

Elly Konijn: “Robots make a more human approach possible in the public domain: healthcare, education, service” 

Nicole Krämer: “When trying to implement dialogue in social robots, we learn about the wonderful, inimitable communication abilities of humans” 

Jochen Peter: “Whether we like it or not, social robots will in the long run change how we relate and communicate with each other”