ROCA: Robot Culture and Aesthetics

"Robots are boring - humans are not" - This statement marks the incentive to investigate and create robotic technologies from a cultural and aesthetics perspective.

One important aspect of robot culture explores how human beings imagine robots in present and future societies. The five robot images at the top all represent humanoid robots. Most of these robots are imaginary, yet familiar and slightly nostalgic. Future robots may look nothing at all like these - but how then?

Current trends within caretaking industries as well as in industrial production, agriculture, and education, suggest that there will be more robots around in the future. Robots are increasingly being designed to interact closely with human beings, and to be sensitive to behaviour and movement of human beings in various types of environments. This leads to fundamental questions of: what is a robot, and how do we imagine the future relationship between humans and robots?