’social’ Robots & ‘Emotional’ Software Agents: Gendering Processes and De-Gendering Strategies for ‘Technologies in the Making’

Abstract

Over the past years we can observe profound reconfigurations of the boundaries between human beings and machines in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science. Particularly software agents and robots attest to an ongoing paradigm shift from machine-oriented concepts, algorithms and automats towards ‘interaction’ (see , ). While early approaches sought to model rational-cognitive processes and to solve problems using formal structures, the emphasis is currently shifting to human-computer and human-robot interaction.