How does anthropology approach the question of robotic care? A lecture by research fellow Mengzhu An explored technology, emotion, and the evolving relationships between humans and machines.
While China’s robotics industry grows rapidly, public discussion often misses a critical perspective. Anthropological reflection on how these technologies impact human care has remained surprisingly limited.
Addressing this gap, EMOROB research fellow Mengzhu An delivered a three-hour online lecture titled Can Robots Care? How Anthropology Responds to a Question About the Future, organized by the Slow Water Anthropology Studio for a Chinese-speaking audience.
During the session, Mengzhu An grounded the central question across intersections of technocare, emotion, relational ethics, ontology, and futures studies. She looked at real-life places, like robotics labs, nursing homes, robot funerals, and Buddhist temples, to compare how we imagine robots with how people actually use them.
Additionally, the talk examined how traditional anthropological field methods must evolve when engaging with fast-moving, interdisciplinary fields like affective computing and social robotics.
The talk brought together researchers, care workers, and robotics engineers, showing a strong interest in how anthropology helps us understand AI empathy and human-robot relationships.
In autumn 2025, Csaba Szaló carried out research at the Senate House Library at University of London, engaged in scholarly exchange with Simon Sussen, and attended a seminar at City St George's.
In November 2025, Ilaria Fornacciari presented her talk Neural Networks, Pattern Recognition and Emotional Data, where she examined emotion recognition technologies in relation to the AI Act & epistemological foundations of emotional data.
