What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots: The Future of Human-Robot Collaboration

A new book co-authored by MIT engineers Julie Shah and Laura Major SM '05 explores a future populated with robot helpers. Book co-authored by MIT Associate Professor Julie Shah and Laura Major SM '05 explores a future populated with robot helpers. As Covid-19 has made it necessary for people to keep their distance from each other, robots are stepping in to fill essential roles, such as sanitizing warehouses and hospitals, ferrying test samples to laboratories, and serving as telemedicine avatars. There are signs that people may be increasingly receptive to robotic help, preferring, at least hypothetically, to be picked up by a self-driving taxi or have their food delivered via robot, to reduce their risk of catching the virus. As more intelligent, independent machines make their way into the public sphere, engineers Julie Shah and Laura Major are urging designers to rethink not just how robots fit in with society, but also how society can change to accommodate these new, "working" robots.