Understanding Roboticists’ Power through Matrix Guided Technology Power Analysis

Tom Williams

ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

Roboticists wield substantial power through the ways we choose to design and deploy robots. But understanding the nature of this power requires us to consider the different types of power wielded through different types of robot design choices, and the social and historical factors that shape the power landscape into which robots are embedded. To facilitate this type of analysis, I present Matrix-Guided Technology Power Analysis (MGTPA), a framework for analyzing the different types of power that technologists wield across different domains of power, with sensitivity to the social and historical forces that determine the default and alternative trajectories of those technologies. Further, I show how MGTPA can be used to better understand the specific types of power that roboticists wield.