Ambiwalentny obraz psa w robotyce
The Ambivalent Image of the Dog in Robotics

Summary/Abstract: Dogs and humans have relationships which are special in their emotional intensity. Aside from the fact that the dog performs many tasks that fulfil the needs of its human owner, it is also, and perhaps primarily, that owner’s friend and companion. At the same time, a dog may be regarded as a threat, due to associations with the aggressive nature of its wolfish ancestors. This ambivalence with regard to dogs can be detected in the modern history of robotics: the machines which are being developed seem to reflect both types of the dog’s image: that of a family member and that of a dangerous beast. Examples are supplied by the Aibo commercial robot created by Sony and the BigDog robot (including its subsequent advanced versions), created by Boston Dynamics for the military. Both these products can be seen as illustrations of the seemingly contradictory images of the dog in culture.

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