Otherness as a Quality in Designing Expressive Robotic Touch

2026-04-25

AI Summary

Current robotic tactile design often overemulates human touch, constraining expressive potential and potentially eliciting social discomfort. This study introduces the concept of “alterity” from human–robot interaction to reframe non-human qualities of machine touch as a generative design resource. Employing a research-through-design approach, the work integrates analysis of artistic precedents with four reflective design cases to systematically investigate how alterity can foster ambiguity and invite pluralistic interpretations. The research presents the first design language framework specifically oriented toward tactile meaning-making, elucidating the mechanisms through which alterity operates in haptic expression, strategies for its deliberate shaping, and pathways for its systemic integration. In doing so, it identifies critical design tensions and risks, thereby significantly expanding the design space for expressive robotic touch.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Safety, Robustness & Trustworthiness

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

Haptic technologies have advanced rapidly, yet exploration of robotic touch remains dominated by replicating realistic environmental cues or hand gestures, which narrows the design space and risks social resistance. This paper argues for alternatives: grounded in the notion of "otherness" from human-robot interaction (HRI), we propose treating robotic touch's inherent otherness as a design quality. Instead of being a limitation in pursuing realism, otherness can be embraced to elicit ambiguity and provoke alternative interpretations, fostering expressive and evocative robotic touch design. To develop this perspective, we analyze inspirational art and design precedents and four design research cases through a reflective Research through Design (RtD) approach. Through this analysis, we articulate a set of design languages structured around why otherness matters for touch meaning-making, how it can be shaped through design strategies, and where it can be embedded within robotic touch systems. We conclude by reflecting on the tensions and risks involved in designing robotic touch with otherness in mind.

Problem

• otherness
• robotic touch
• expressive design
• haptic interaction
• human-robot interaction

Innovation

• otherness
• expressive touch
• robotic haptics
• Research through Design
• design language