Juliet Pusateri

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Juliet Pusateri’s research bridges medieval history, critical making, and human-robot interaction, exploring how imagined automata from the distant past can inform the future design of robots. Her most-cited work, “Medieval Robots” (2020), challenges modern assumptions by reconstructing “The Alabaster Chamber” (Chambre de Beautés) through an iterative, critical making process. This project asks what we can learn from medieval automata—often dismissed as mere curiosities—about embodiment, agency, and the cultural narratives embedded in technology. Though her citation count is modest, Pusateri’s contributions are notable for their interdisciplinary boldness: she merges historical scholarship with hands-on fabrication, offering a unique lens for understanding how past imaginaries shape present-day robotics. Her work invites students and researchers to reconsider the lineage of artificial beings, arguing that medieval fantasies of mechanical servants and animated statues hold lessons for contemporary design ethics. By reconstructing these lost artifacts, Pusateri not only illuminates a forgotten chapter of technological history but also provokes critical reflection on the stories we tell about robots—past, present, and future.