Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I use multimodal interaction analysis of video-recorded data, eye-tracking data, and interview analysis to research embodied interactional practices between people and BlessU-2 robot, including negotiation during the initial encounter and sequential organization of this experience.

Paper long abstract:

When people encounter the BlessU-2 robot for the first time, they react in various ways, commonly negotiating whether to get a blessing from the robot or not. Considering that the BlessU-2 is an interactive “robot priest” with human features and the ability to say various Biblical quotes as blessings in several languages, the first several moments of the encounter become crucial for setting the whole experience of interaction with the robot as a non-human agent which has religious functions. The goal of this paper is to explore and describe the interactional practices between people and BlessU-2 robot during the initial encounter. Thus, I use data recorded with eye-tracking glasses and video cameras for multimodal interaction analysis of embodied conduct. Additionally, I include the analysis of interviews in which visitors express their impressions about BlessU-2. The research relies on the current work concerning human and non-human interaction, specifically human and other-than-human interaction (human and non-human agency) such as sociability and agency (Šabanović 2010; Alač 2016;), bodily interaction/embodiment (Burden et al. 2019) and human-like conversational abilities (Arend&Sunnen 2017; Pelikan&Broth 2016). The paper gives a particular focus to the significance of mutual gaze exchange between the participants for the co-construction of the joint interaction with the BlessU-2 as a novel experience. The fieldwork was done during the Planet Digital exhibition at the Museum for Design in Zurich (spring 2022), where the BlessU-2 robot was presented as one of the exhibit pieces. My research contributes to the wider question of the impact of technology on religious and spiritual practices through the empirical analysis of personal encounters with the BlessU-2 robot.