Podcast Appearance (BG Ideas) Human Relationships with Robots
1
We keep asking if robots can feel.
The more interesting question is why we already act like they do. 2
Podcast Appearance: BG Ideas
Human Relationships with Robots
When we talk about artificial intelligence, the conversation usually gravitates toward risk: job displacement, automation, and the unsettling possibility that machines may one day outperform us in domains we once considered distinctly human. These concerns are legitimate. However, they tend to crowd out a quieter and, frankly, more interesting transformation that is already underway.
People are forming meaningful relationships with robots.
In this episode of BG Ideas, I talk about my research on human-robot interaction: how people interpret and respond to machines designed not just to compete in tasks, but to engage socially, through gestures, expressions, and behaviors that read as relational. We keep asking whether robots can feel. The more interesting (and possibly upsetting) question is why we already act like they do.
That's where my research lives. As technological systems become more responsive and socially expressive, they begin to occupy territory once reserved for human connection. What we feel in those moments and why we feel it tells us something revealing about who we are becoming alongside our machines.
It's a stranger, richer story than the standard AI headlines suggest. I hope you will listen in.
Event:
BG Ideas Podcast
Recorded: October 17, 2025
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH
Tags:
Human-Robot Interaction, Affective Technology,Technology and Culture,Presentation,