Towards Human-Robot Co-Agency

TOWARDS HUMAN-ROBOT CO-AGENCY: AI AND FEMINIST TECHNOSCIENCE PERSPECTIVES FOR DIVERSITY, DEMOGRAPHY AND DEMOCRACY ON HUMAN-ROBOT COLLABORATION IN ARCHITECTURE

The construction industry urgently needs to become more productive and sustainable. Automation is a common approach to increasing efficiency, but this approach is challenged by the lack of skilled labour in the construction industry. This project at the intersection of architectural computing and social science addresses this challenge with a novel, AI-based method of human-robot collaboration that

• replaces demands for human physical labour with demands for technical skills, and
• engages workers by stimulating creativity and ensuring agency.

The shift from physical endurance to professional input and intellectual contribution opens up construction to a broader demographic that is otherwise excluded, allowing them to contribute more meaningfully and with higher-value skills. The project integrates perspectives from feminist technoscience – a transdisciplinary field that offers different ways of thinking about societies, technologies, bodies, power and environments – to develop an HRC method that attracts skilled workers and supports skills and decision-making, while taking into account the uncertainties inherent in construction. Specifically, the project uses methods from experimental democracy to ensure a fair and responsible development process for the HRC method, involving a diverse range of potential users.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS & PARTICIPATING RESERACHER

Prof. Dr. Cordula Kropp
Institute for Social Sciences (SOWI), University of Stuttgart
Prof. Achim Menges
Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), University of Stuttgart
Tenure-Track-Prof. Dr. Thomas Wortmann
Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD/CA), University of Stuttgart

RESEARCHER

Gili Ron (ICD/CA)

PARTNERS

The project was accepted for IRIS-3D. Interdisciplinary and interfaculty research in IRIS focuses on the societal impacts of intelligent systems within politics, literature, machine learning, economics and education. Additionally, it bridges the research of IRIS members, IRIS3D and SimTech. IRIS also connects to the Participation and Deliberation Labs (ZIRIUS) in addition to two projects which are funded by SimTech.

FUNDING

Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg