Android science: Difference between revisions

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'''Android science''' is an interdisciplinary framework for studying human interaction and cognition based on the premise that a very humanlike [[robot]] (that is, an [[Android (robot)|android]]) can elicit human-directed social responses in human beings.<ref>Reeves, B. & [[Clifford Nass|Nass, C.]] (2002). ''[[The Media Equation]]: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places.'' University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN |978-1-57586-053-4}}</ref><ref>MacDorman, K. F., Minato, T., Shimada, M., Itakura, S., Cowley, S. J., & Ishiguro, H. (2005). Assessing human likeness by eye contact in an android testbed. In ''Proceedings of the XXVII Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.'' July 25–26, Stresa, Italy.</ref> The android's ability to elicit human-directed social responses enables researchers to employ an android in experiments with human participants as an apparatus that can be controlled more precisely than a human actor.<ref>[http://www.macdorman.com MacDorman, K. F.] & [http://www.ed.ams.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/ Ishiguro, H.] (2006). [http://www.macdorman.com/kfm/writings/pubs/MacDorman2006AndroidScience.pdf The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive science research.] ''Interaction Studies, 7''(3), 297-337.</ref>

While mechanical-looking robots may be able to elicit social responses to some extent, a robot that looks and acts like a human being is in a better position to stand in for a human actor in social, psychological, cognitive, or neuroscientific experiments.<ref>[http://www.macdorman.com MacDorman, K. F.] & [http://www.ed.ams.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/ Ishiguro, H.] (2006). [http://www.macdorman.com/kfm/writings/pubs/MacDorman2006OpeningPandorasUncannyBox.pdf Opening Pandora’s uncanny box: Reply to commentaries on “The uncanny advantage of using androids in social and cognitive science research.”] Interaction Studies, 7(3), 361-368.</ref> This gives experiments with androids a level of ecological validity with respect to human interaction found lacking in experiments with mechanical-looking robots.<ref>{{Cite journal| first1 = K. F.| first2 = H. | title = The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive and social science research| last1 = Macdorman | journal = Interaction Studies | volume = 7| issue = 3 | pages = 297–337 | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1075/is.7.3.03mac| last2 = Ishiguro}}</ref>