Can Current Methods in Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Make Robots Culturally Robust?

Abstract

In the attempt to make robots culturally diverse, social robotics research is overwhelmed by cultural stereotypes. Many researchers introduce concepts such as Culturally Robust Robots to account for the dynamic and flexible nature of culture. These concepts are grounded on an implicit assumption: that current AI methods are epistemologically adequate to represent and reason about “culture”. This paper questions that assumption by looking at two knowledge representation and reasoning (KR&R) methods used in intelligent robotics; argue for the inadequacy of current methods; and call for a critical revision of the use of KR&R in social robotics.