Abstract

This talks aims to shed a light on informal caregivers to the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and beyond. The current narrative is that AI-driven technologies will be the saviour of care. However, there is important pocket of caregiving – informal caregivers— that has been overlooked, even if that group is expected to help ensure the successful deployment of care robots. Put differently, informal caregivers, usually friends and relatives providing unpaid care work, are likely to remain essential to caregiving and robots will not be the saviour of care alone. Through a critical HRI lens informed by sociology of law and STS , this talk will explore the role of informal caregivers and roboticists themselves for HRI and health care. I will present two empirical studies as well as theoretical papers to reflect on how it is possible to challenge and reframe robots for care.

Bio: Laetitia Tanqueray is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Technology and Society, at Lund University, Sweden. Laetitia holds law degrees in English, Welsh and French Law (LLB and Master 1 respectively) and a Master’s (MSc) in Sociology of Law. She investigates human-robot interactions (HRI) from a socio-legal STS lens in the context of health care. Her published work has mostly focused on informing HRI design, including in collaboration with HRI experts in the context of peripartum depression and informal caregivers.