We are pleased to have Tony J. Prescott from the University of Sheffield presenting at our SFU VINCI seminar.

Sean M>

Date: Friday, April 25, 2025

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Location: TASC1 9204, Burnaby campus

Zoom Link: Join via Zoom

Talk Title: Designing Assistive Robots: A Relational Approach

Abstract:
Social robots that can interact and communicate with people are growing in popularity for use at home and in customer-service, education, and healthcare settings. Although growing evidence suggests that co-operative and helpful social robots could benefit users across the lifespan, controversy continues about the ethical implications of these devices and their potential harms. This talk will explore these issues through the lens of human-robot relationships. I will explore the philosophical and psychological status of social robots and relate research on human-human and human-animal relationships to the emerging literature on human-robot relationships. Advocating a relational rather than essentialist view, I will consider the balance of benefits and harms that can arise from different types of relationship with social robots, outline design principles for building ethically-sound social robots and consider ways of personalising robots to promote more valued and beneficial relationships.

Biography:
Tony Prescott (him/his) is a Professor of Robotics at the University of Sheffield who develops robots that resemble animals including humans. His goal is both to advance the understanding of natural intelligence and to create useful new technologies such as assistive, educational and entertainment robots. Tony has published over 250 refereed articles and journal papers at the intersection of robotics and psychology (Google h-factor 52) and has received over £10M in funding from UK and European research agencies. He is the author of the book The Psychology of Artificial Intelligence (Routledge, 2024) and lead editor of Living Machines: A Handbook of Research in Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (OUP, 2018). With collaborators he has developed the MiRo-e robot and the MiRoCloud robotics e-learning platform. His research has been covered by the major news and scientific media including the BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, The Guardian and New Scientist. Tony regularly writes and speaks on societal and ethical issues in robotics and artificial intelligence. For more information see his blog page or follow @tonyjprescott on BlueSky.