Exploring Human-Robot Futures through Participatory Design

The fields of robotics and assistive technology have historically been rarefied; removed from the needs and lived experiences of their potential end users, especially disabled people. Participatory Design (‘PD’), in which design is done with users as opposed to for them, is one way to redress this gap. This thesis explores the efficacy of using storytelling-based PD in robotic and assistive technology development through two studies.

Study 1 explores cultural imaginaries of robots and assistive technology with children with osteogenesis imperfecta (‘OI’, commonly known as brittle bone disease) and their families, blending Fictional Inquiry (Dindler & Iversen, 2007) with Science Fiction Prototyping (‘SFP’) (Johnson, 2011) in online and in-person workshops. The original contribution of this study is to evaluate a PD methodology for robotics as assistive technology with disabled potential end users that is grounded in popular culture, operationalising sociotechnical imaginaries as a common frame of reference for design activities.

Study 2 dives deeper into Johnson’s SFP (2011), conducting a critical review of its methodological structure and assumptions, using critical posthumanism as a theoretical lens to illuminate ways in which its utility as an emancipatory PD tool might be improved. The review informs a validation study of an interactive fiction platform that incorporates theory and praxis from video game storytelling to implement the suggested amendments. The original contribution of this study is to divorce SFP from its corporatist roots and so provide motivation for future work in employing (interactive) storytelling to pursue the emancipatory values of PD in technology design.

Together, Studies 1 and 2 provide evidence of the efficacy of storytelling-based PD in robotics and assistive technology development. The thesis contributes to the robotics and assistive technology fields through involving underrepresented perspectives (children with OI and their families) and its commitment to PD’s emancipatory values.