Social displays—creating accountability in robotics
This academic article investigates how the physical and behavioral design features of social robots, autonomous vehicles, and smart agents function as communicative "social displays" that establish social accountability for human counterparts. Drawing on communication sociology and Erving Goffman's interaction theory, the author analyzes empirical video data of the healthcare robot Alice to show how appearance, behavior, and language manage human expectations and interaction crises. The concept of social displays is proposed as a theoretical framework to describe how non-trivial machines are socially assigned functional roles and behavioral typologies in everyday life.
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Who issued it
Who it governs
Researchers and developers in social robotics and human-machine interaction who want to understand the sociological foundations of machine design and accountability.
What the document contains
The article covers the theoretical conceptualization of social displays in robotics, analyzing how visual, behavioral, and linguistic design features establish social accountability for non-trivial machines. It uses a case study of the healthcare robot Alice to examine categorical assessability, situational structuring, and interaction crisis management.
The text does not provide legal regulations, compliance guidelines, or technical engineering specifications for building robots.
- Complex and non-trivial machines require design elements called social displays to make their functional roles and behavioral types understandable to humans.
- Erving Goffman's sociological concepts of displays and frames can be adapted to analyze how machines project expected encounters and roles.
- The case study of the healthcare robot Alice demonstrates how pictorial, behavioral, and linguistic displays combine to establish categorical assessability and situational design.
- Machines manage interaction crises and frame breakdowns through meta-communication, expressions of awkwardness, and frame modulations.
- Social displays help reduce the complexity of non-trivial technological systems so that humans can integrate them into routine everyday pragmatism.
1. The issue: accountability with respect to social worlds 2. Case study: the socio-communicative structure of Alice’s display - On (a): categorical assessability - On (b): situational design - On (c): crisis management 3. Discussion: creating accountability in the social world
How it scores
Each score is backed by a quote verified against the document text. Editorial review has not yet confirmed them.
Fairness
0/5Non-discrimination and equitable treatment
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24
Human Dignity
0/5Respect for the inherent worth of persons
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24
Human Oversight
0/5Humans remain in control of consequential decisions
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24
Privacy
0/5Protection of personal data and private life
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24
Enforcement
0/5Consequences and compliance mechanisms with real force
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24
Impact Assessment
0/5Required assessment of an AI system's risks/impacts before or during use
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-24