Title: You, robot. Towards New Models of Human-Robot Interaction
Abstract:
The relationship between humans and machines remains one of the primary avenues for investigating human cognition. Since the moment it became possible to construct artificial devices capable of performing cognitive tasks, machines have been assigned the role of testing hypotheses about the functioning of the processes that define human intelligence through modeling and implementation. Robotics, as a field dedicated to constructing artifacts that exhibit even minimal levels of autonomy, represents one of the most advanced frontiers of this inquiry—the latest link in a chain of developments that, over the past seventy years, has been shaped by the metaphor of the mind as a computer. Within this framework, under the influence of computational and functionalist theories of cognition, the robot has assumed the role of a human counterpart: an individual agent whose mind is conceived as being confined within the body or brain of the individual. Even with the advent of social robotics—a discipline aimed at equipping robots with the capacity to interact with humans—robotic cognitive architectures have primarily been designed with a focus on human individuality rather than their social nature.
This study seeks to explore alternative ways of employing robots to investigate the distinctive phenomena of human cognition. It aims to demonstrate that robots can be used not only to test hypotheses about the internal mechanisms of human thought but also to examine the ways we interact with others. Rather than being mere passive machines for testing individualistic theories, robots can serve as tools for understanding interactional dynamics. The central objective of this dissertation is to show how alternative approaches—those that move beyond the computational metaphor that has guided the development of robots—can expand our perspective on the mind and pave the way for an inquiry in which robots are treated as interlocutors in a dialogue. The approach adopted aligns with the radically embodied and situated theories of enactive cognition.
This research is situated within the field of human-robot interaction (HRI) studies, an intrinsically interdisciplinary domain that integrates multiple perspectives. Through the combined contributions of philosophy and cognitive science, this study seeks to advance the investigation of HRI by addressing key phenomena within the field, including social cognition, anthropomorphism, embodiment, intentionality attribution, and the Uncanny Valley Effect. The dissertation ultimately argues that shifting the focus from models of substitution, individuality, and replication to those of collaboration, dialogue, and otherness enables alternative interpretations of these phenomena and reconfigures the inquiry through the lens of participation—one that views robots not merely as human replicas but as potential partners in the investigation of cognitive processes.
The dissertation is structured as follows.
Chapter I – Machines Like Me. The Human Ambition of Knowledge Through the Machine reconstructs the epistemological foundations that have allowed machines to assume a privileged role as instruments of knowledge in the study of human beings.
Chapter II – From Cognitive Science to Robotics: A Roundtrip Journey examines the mutual influences between these domains, analyzing how theoretical hypotheses and practical implementations have shaped the study of cognitive processes and artificial realizations, leading up to the development of social robots.
Chapter III – The Modern Galatea. Social Robots Between Modeling and Mimesis of the Living provides an overview of the state of the art in HRI studies, with particular attention to the models of social cognition employed. It also explores the robot as a mimetic, synthetic, and at the same time syncretic artifact—identifying the latter as the distinctive feature of the social robot as a sui generis machine.
Chapter IV – Humans, All Too Human. The Role of Intentionality in Human-Robot Interaction examines the phenomenon of attributing intentionality to humanoid robotic artifacts, reconstructs the internal debates within HRI, and offers an analysis of the robot as a syncretic artifact based on embodied and situated theories of cognition. By reconnecting social cognition, agency, and behavior, the robot’s intentionality is reinterpreted in light of the syncretism introduced in the previous chapter.
Chapter V – The Game of Interaction. Breakdowns, Habits, and Expectations in HRI develops a variation of the imitation game based on the reciprocity of interaction and the centrality of breakdowns. This theoretical framework is tested on the Uncanny Valley Effect as a boundary phenomenon of human experience with robots. The chapter concludes by opening new research directions in epistemology and robotic learning, made possible by reconceptualizing the study of human-robot interaction in terms of embodiment, sociality, and the environment-dependent nature of human cognitive processes.
