9: Emotional Reach in Technology Products
Technology products would seem to be the least emotional of all product categories - emotion itself being the diametric opposite of the science on which technology is based and the cold logic to which technology seems to appeal.
Clearly, this is not the case: consumers "love" their car with the same level of emotion, perhaps more, than was once felt for living, breathing horses. They love their computers , their cell phones, and gadgetry of all kinds. Even in the most extreme use of technology, customers are emotionally engaged with the products they use - and do not accept products that leave them disconnected.
From Fear to Comfort
Historically, technology has been colored with fear and hope - stemming from much the same factors as religion or superstition: people do not understand it, hope it will deliver on its promises, and fear it will go haywire and wreak havoc.
The same fear and hope applied to virtually every technological device at its introduction, and did not subside for quite a long time as the technology became familiar. We dismiss as irrational the fear that was felt at electricity and modern medicine, but exhibit the very same behavior in the face of nanotechnology and genetic engineering.
(EN: The author carries on a while - mostly redundant - but one of the more interesting bits is that popular entertainment, particularly the horror genre, spin up fear of technology. Some argument whether artists speak of fears that already exist, or whipping up fear.)
Much of technology is made invisible: firms can market a state-of-the-art tennis racket, cosmetics with greater shine and longevity, and the like. While these are effected by technology (nanotechnology used in the production of the racket, and stirred right into the cosmetics), the fear is diminished when firms lead with the added benefits to a familiar product and the technology becomes supporting evidence.
The "unknown" element of technology that is associated to fear of the unknown is also linked to positive emotions such as excitement and adventure that serve to attract people to new technology, or to form a stronger bond as a person moves from uncertainty to relief to reassurance as they adopt and use technology.
The author goes on for a while about the significant degree to which technology is involved in healthcare and the utter lack of consideration they give to the emotion of the patients. Technology is cold and impersonal, as is healthcare, and when the two of them get together, the net result is that medical examinations and procedures are a thoroughly dehumanizing experience.
The author refers obliquely to the interest in improving the patient's experience of medical care, but can name only one clinic where it is even being considered, and provides no supporting details that demonstrate this interest.
Emotion of Space Systems
There is some discussion of the role in which emotion plays in technology design in the aerospace industry: satellites, rockets, and other equipment is not intentionally designed to be appealing to the computer, but the engineers that design them often place some level of effort in making their devices look elegant, sophisticated, and sleek.
The suggestion is that having a captivating visual design is key to getting funding. The decision-makers are far more likely to listen to the enumeration of technical details if the artifacts themselves are visually appealing. Few bureaucrats, spending from the public fund, feel comfortable in choosing an unappealing or ugly system, even if it's technically as good or marginally better than competing projects. Allegedly, emotion is set aside in such decisions - but when a contract is granted to vendor who builds a sleeker gizmo, this suggests otherwise.
Emotion in Robotics
By strict definition, a robot is a machine that carries out a task automatically, such that any mechanical device that functions without a human operator (except perhaps to switch it on) can appropriately be called a robot - and there are many robots in use in production facilities, replacing human workers at repetitions and mundane jobs that require little judgment. However, robots are not strictly relegated to the production facility and into situations in which people, particularly customers, interface with robots and other machines.
The key to gain in consumer acceptance is making machines more personable - capable of expressing and evoking emotion. The author looks to the science-fiction genre, in which people sympathize with and even express adoration of machines that evoke emotions, and in which a robot that simply performs a task and is unresponsive to emotion is generally the villain, or at least an obstacle.
In laymen's terms, the distinction between a robot and a machine is in the emotional portent of the device, real or imagined. Researchers at USC have indicated that people readily anthropomorphize computers and robots - ascribing to them attention, personality, and emotions even when no attempt has been made on the part of the developer to create them.
It's likewise been found that people are more likely to adopt and interact with robots when they do so - the device seems more intelligent and less threatening for its ability to communicate on an emotional level. Work is being done in social robotics to improve the emotional quality of interacting with robots (SAR or "socially assistive robotics"), and even enabling them to sense and respond to the emotions of people. There may be a significant payoff for doing so, in that robots seem likely to become far more ubiquitous than before, particularly for their use in rehabilitation and assisting the elderly and disabled.
The author mentions some of the research (Metaric) - the results seem promising, but research is still in the early stages.