Technological Fantasies of Nao - Remarks about Alterity Relations

Abstract

In this contribution we investigate how the concept of ‘technological fantasies’ can be utilized to further develop the understanding of human-robot relation as an ‘alterity relation’. Postphenomenology emphasizes how the humanoid robot is constituted as a ‘quasi-other’ in the interaction with humans. The basis of the article is an experiment we conducted at the Medical Museion in Copenhagen, involving the humanoid robot Nao as a tour guide. Through interviews with the participants of the robot guided tour, we discuss how technological fantasies of the robot play an active part in the constitution of the alterity relation and thus the experience of the robot as a quasi-other.