[2E5-OS-4b] OS-4

[2E5-OS-4b-03] Exploring Human and AI Robot “Symbiosis” from an “Infrastructure” Perspective

An Ethnography of Emerging AI Robotics Research and Development

〇Hiroto Shimizu¹ (1. Nagoya University)

Keywords:AI robotics, Infrastructure, ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications), Ethnography, Sociology

This ethnographic study examines AI robotics research through infrastructure studies, focusing on Japan’s Moonshot R&D Programme Goal 3, which aims for human-AI-robot “symbiosis” by 2050. The study analyses the Awareness AI project, where researchers envision robots as pervasive, invisible resources supporting daily life through biometric monitoring and behavioural intervention. It identifies three infrastructural dilemmas: visibility tradeoffs between bodily information and technological integration, conflicts between consent models and monitoring requirements, and concerns about normalised behavioural control. Using interviews and observations, the study employs “infrastructural inversion” to reveal hidden sociotechnical challenges. It contrasts anthropomorphic AI narratives with an infrastructure-oriented approach, exploring how the project reimagines human-machine relations through networked resource integration and mutual constitution between bodies and technological environments. The study contributes to technology studies by reframing AI ethics debates through infrastructure’s sociopolitical dimensions.