The Mechanics of Fear. Re-envisioning Anxiety through Emerging Technologies of Affect/Funktionsweisen der Furcht. Neue Konzepte von Angst im Kontext der emotionalen Robotik

Abstract

While there has been ample research in the fields of psychology and human- robot interaction on humans’ fear toward robots, advancements in artificial emotional intelligence and emotional robotics suggest the need to investigate not only the mechanisms by which humans in different social contexts de- velop anxiety toward robots but also the mechanics by which robots might develop anxiety themselves. Based on a year of ethnographic research among engineers in Japan modeling emotion in robots, this article contends that exploring how robots are both designed and imagined to sense anxiety reveals productive feedback loops between entertainment robotics, artificial intelligence research, and an evolving psychology of human-robot relations in Japan. By outlining some of the social, scientific, and political implications of these feedback loops, the essay aims to help answer the question of how recent technological strategies to realize robots that not only read, perform, but also in a philosophical and social sense have emotion are reshaping the designs of psychological research on fear and anxiety in contemporary Japan.