Design, Performance, and Perception of Robot Identity

Ryan Blake Jackson and Alexa Bejarano and Katie Winkle and Tom Williams

Workshop on Robo-Identity: Artificial identity and multi-embodiment at HRI 2021

This paper explores (1) how robots and multi-robot systems can perform identity specifically for human benefit, (2) the factors that impact how humans perceive robot identity and its connection with mind and body, and (3) possible implications of designing non-traditional identity configurations. In particular, we explore the unique ways that identity may be performed in multi-robot systems, and examine arguments for and against designing multi-robot systems to perform identity in ways that diverge from or obscure the distributed nature of those robots’ cognitive architecture.