Anthropology, Robots and Robot Anthropology (Kathleen Richardson's Home Page)

Dr Kathleen Richardson Department of Social Anthropology Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF, United Kingdom Email: University of Cambridge

ROBOT ANTHROPOLOGY I completed my doctoral studies in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge and conducted fieldwork in robotics labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). My thesis, 'Annihilating Difference? Robots and Building Design at MIT' examined the breakdown of boundaries between humans and nonhumans through a study of robots. In Cambridge, I am a member of Corpus Christi College. In May 2006, I produced the play R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) written by Karel Čapek (1921) and the source of the first robots. I am also a freelance writer and have contributed to a number of publications including The New Scientist and The Times Higher Educational Supplement. My most recent research was BT-sponsored and examined how users construct and organize their sociality through online social networking technologies. I am currently a research associate at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Kr242@cam.ac.uk You can read some of my published articles on robotics and popular culture below.
Updates July 2008 Forthcoming Talk at UCL, September 2008: TITLE: Does metal matter? Relating to things as persons; sociable robots and the making of relational companions. ABSTRACT: My talk will examine the making of sociable robots. Sociable machines are designed to engage in communicative and social behaviors and are imagined by their creators as a new companion species. How do roboticists redefine what it means to be a machine through the making of sociable robots? And what might technology look like when metal matters? ARTICLES AND REVIEWS WALL-E FILM REVIEW SEX, LOVE AND ROBOTS BOOK REVIEW MY FRIEND THE ROBOT ROBOTS ARE OUR FRIENDS? THE STATA CENTRE AND TECHNOLOGY BUILDING DESIGN I, ROBOT FILM REVIEW HOME HELP HUMANOID ROBOTS PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT FACEBOOK AND FRIENDSHIP – TO COME ROBOTS RIGHTS AT THE DANA CENTRE RISING STARS I ROBOT CONFERENCE TALKS BSHS 4 SOCIETIES MEETING 2008 THE THINKING MACHINE 2008 SWISS STS SCIENCE MEETING 2008 MACHINE CONSCIOUSNES SYMPOSIUM 2006 IN THE PRESS NEW YORK TIMES THE NEW ATLANTIS RADIO PRAGUE 85 YEARS OF THE ROBOT SEGWAY ROBOT MIT DEVELOPS ROBOTS ASSISITANT PAST PROJECTS AND MORE INFORMATION THE FIRST ROBOTS ROBOTS TODAY THE CAMBRIDGE ROBOT PROJECT

Page updated July 2008 –

I am currently trying to update my webpage but it has been a very long time.

Please be patient with me J

Page created in October 2003