The Course Website is now active. This class is being run, experimentally,
using the posterous.com blogging framework so that all reading assignments, discussion questions, student arguments and projects are publicly tracked throughout the semester. Enjoy browing.
Introduction
As robotic products begin to integrate more comprehensively with society, the relationship between robotic interaction and the ethical ramifications of this technologies. impact becomes very relevant from viewpoints of design, critical analysis, legislation and widespread adoption. In this class we study the peculiar aspects of robotics that reveals ethical issues with new urgency, and study explicit and unintended consequences of new technology on personal, organizational and cultural levels. This course uses readings from psychology, sociology, human factors and classical texts to provide ethical analytical frameworks, then turns to recent robotic experiments and new advances in robotic technologies. Students will participate in discussions based on assigned readings, and will work in teams on in-depth analyses of concurrent robotics projects.
Prerequisites:
This course has no prerequisites other than a
willingness to engage with boundary issues in readings and in class discussions.
Text:
There is no text for this course, although a number of textbook sections and many articles
will be assigned and read as part of this course.
Method of Evaluation:
Students will be graded based on the following activities and content:
reading responses
reports on assigned follow-up research
peer-reviewed teamwork performance
in-course participation
two in-class presentations
group case study presentations
Contact info
- Instructor: Illah Nourbakhsh, <illah@ri.cmu.edu>, 8x2007, Newell-Simon Hall 3115. Office hours by appointment and after class.
- Course administrator: Karen Widmaier, <krw@andrew.cmu.edu>.
Announcements
Class will be Tuesdays and Thursdays 10.30AM - 11.50AM in Newell Simon Hall 3002.
Reading:
The following are examples of the types of readings we will consider
assigning in this course, together with technically oriented robotics
pieces describing technology and implementation:
Carl DiSalvo, on robot form and behavior
Peter Kahn, psychology of robotics special issue
P. Dourish, action and embodiment
J. Murray, hamlet on the holodeck
Barnlund, communication and the context of change
Aristotle, poetics
T. Gieryn, cultural boundaries of science
A. Gross, rhetoric of science
P. Singer, wired for war
Guest Speakers:
The following are potential guest speakers:
Andre Ritovoi, English
Kristen Hughes, Design
Sara Kiesler, HCII
Aaron Steinfeld, Robotics/Human Factors
Sal Restivo, Sociology and robotics
Michela Massimi, Pitt. philosophy of science
[ The Robotics Institute | Carnegie Mellon University ]