Robot-Supported Food Experiences
Robots are increasingly taking up roles in society to support and interact with humans in various contexts including the home, health-care, production and assembly lines, among others. Much of the research focuses on efficiency, speed, accuracy of repetit
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Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark [email protected] Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Abstract. Robots are increasingly taking up roles in society to support and interact with humans in various contexts including the home, health-care, production and assembly lines, among others. Much of the research focuses on efficiency, speed, accuracy of repetitive tasks, and in most cases the robot simply replaces and performs work tasks originally performed by humans. Looking beyond the simple replacement of humans with robotic servants, we focus on increasing creativity and pleasurable experiences supported by robots for the preparation, serving and consumption of food. This is a culturally rich area to design for, which is steeped in tradition, social norms and expectations. How can robots play a role in this context? We observed and interviewed chefs to gain a sense for opportunities for robotic technologies. We then created nine exploratory video prototypes involving food preparation with a robotic arm taking departure in themes of haute cuisine, “plating”, and the arts in order to show some of the capabilities of robots and to spark their imagination for possible future uses of robots in the kitchen. Through questionnaires and interviews, we gained feedback from ten chefs with resulting themes including harsh criticism and resistance to robots as well as desire and interest for robots to support food experiences as a partner in the restaurant. We discuss emergent themes from the feedback and provide discussion on future work needed to explore robots as partners in creative contexts.
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Introduction
Robots are finding roles as visible actors alongside people across society from supporting surgeons in the mission critical surgical theatre [35] to providing comfort as a virtual companion [15]. These roles go beyond the traditional view of robots acting as replacements to humans or acting as a servant, toiling away in the background. Even in the industries most heavily relying on robots for production, such as the automotive industry, there is an increasing shift in perspective toward a more collaborative approach with robots working with humans appearing in various forms [43]. Going beyond the focus on sequential, repetitive work, and simply replacing humans, there are examples emerging in the home and service sectors including food and beverage, in which robots take up supporting roles, acting c Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 J.T.K.V. Koh et al. (Eds.): Cultural Robotics 2015, LNAI 9549, pp. 107–130, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42945-8 10
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with some degree of social awareness [24]. Moreover, researchers have examined the close contact of humans and robots and the attitudes and feelings evoked by robot companions [45]. Researchers have signalled emerging and evolving culture and new attitudes around robots in society as not only passive artifacts, but as partners in human activities and creators of culture [38,40]
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