SanTO in exhibition – a sacred robot in the profane

Abstract

The last few years have witnessed a sudden increase interest in religion within robotics. Among the first robots of this domain to be developed, SanTO, stands as the first Catholic robot. Its redevelopment, called, SanTO-PL is also an animated statue resembling a Catholic saint. It has been placed first into a church for trial, then on permanent exhibition in a museum. This paper describes the robot and the reactions it provoked, which are far from what a supposedly sacred object would be expected to receive.