COURSE

CMAA5037

Social Robots for HCI, Art, and Design

Information Hub / Computational Media and Arts · 3 Credits

This course reimagines human-robot interaction (HRI) through the lenses of human-computer interaction (HCI), speculative design, and artistic practice, centering creativity, empathy, and critical inquiry over technical implementation. Students will have hands-on opportunities to work directly with a few types of robotics, including but not limited to robotics arms, dogs, small swarms, drones, and so on. Through implementing a robotics prototype for human-robot interaction purposes, this course will lead students to explore how social robots amplify human agency, foster collaboration and artistic creation, and challenge societal norms in spaces ranging from homes and hospitals to galleries and public installations. The course will cover both theoretical and technical foundations through seminars, discussions of cutting-edge research papers, technical tutorials, and collaborative work on an empirical, practical, or creative robotics research project.