Send message to Author

Short abstract:

Based on ethnographic observations, we explore the implementation processes of agency in the robot lab. We aim to illustrate, that agentic technologies unfold transformation processes of agency, which are implemented in the construction of synthetic agents through categorizations.

Long abstract:

Recent advancements in deep and machine learning have shifted technology's conceptualization and utilization, surpassing its traditional mediatory role. This shift prompts questions of how agency is distributed between humans and synthetic agents, of how agential relations between humans and technologically developed agents are produced, and how agency is transformed. Based on an ethnographic case study in robotic laboratories, the paper investigates how agency is distributed and differentiated within the manufacturing processes of robots. In robotics, agency is assumed to be implemented, with humans implementing agency in technology, thus leading to a differentiation between human-related implementing and technological-related implemented agency.

While previous STS research has focused on concepts of ascription and inscription of agency, the notion of implementation has received less attention. The contribution heuristically explores the interplay between implementing and implemented agency within the realms of assimilation and deviation. For instance, it analyses scenarios where robots defy the expectations of roboticists, revealing a form of recalcitrance. By focusing on the implementation of agency, the structural and material elements take on a central role in shaping agents as either technological counterparts or human-analog interactants and participants. The paper aims to contribute to the question of how far agency is transformed in processes of its implementation in situ, but also in how it transforms such processes by releasing a differentiating potential between roboticists and robots. By shedding light on these transformation processes regarding a transformed-transformative agency in robot laboratories, it contributes a deeper understanding of human-machine interaction and its modes of participation.