[Air-L] CFP: Workshop on theomorphic robots and religious contexts

[Charles M. Ess]

Dear AoIRists,

with the usual apologies for cross-posting - please forward to 
potentially interested colleagues and/or lists.

Please also note that the workshop, as part of the International 
Research Conference Robophilosophy 2020: Aarhus, Denmark, August 18-21, 
2020, may be carried out as an E-conference, depending on the 
development of the COVID-19 pandemic. More information will follow by 
the end of May (at latest): please consult the conference webpage and 
plan your travel arrangements accordingly.

Call for papers: Workshop on theomorphic robots and religious contexts,
the Robophilosophy-conference 2020, August 18-21, Aarhus.
https://conferences.au.dk/robo-philosophy/

Workshop organizer: PhD fellow Simon Balle, Aarhus University, 
Department of Theology.
Chairs: Prof. Dr. Charles Ess, Oslo University, and PhD fellow Simon Balle.

ABSTRACT
In the wake of the robot revolution, social robots will eventually find 
their way into religious contexts. Indeed, some have already done so. 
Recently ‘Mindar’, the android version of the Buddhist deity Kannon 
Bodhisattva, has been introduced in a Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, while 
both Catholic and Protestant contexts have seen such inventions as SanTO 
and BlessU2 respectively. While roboticists have started producing 
‘theomorphic robots’ to represent and mediate the divine, there is a 
great need to join this effort with theoretical, ethical and theological 
discussion. This is exactly what this workshop takes aim at, and a main 
priority to this end - in the spirit of the conference theme - would be 
to identify values and theological aims of religious communities that 
social robots should be developed, tested and introduced in compliance to.

TOPICS AND AIMS
This workshop invites contributions from developers of theomorphic 
robots along with robot ethicists, philosophers of religion, and 
theologians to discuss empirical findings from experiments with 
theomorphic robots as well as theoretical aspects of social robots in 
religious contexts. The workshop aims to reflect on how theomorphic 
robots and robotic technologies in general can be developed for faith 
communities to comply with and perhaps enhance values and theological 
aims local to that community.

The workshop invites contributions on:
• Critical research on representing the divine in robotic technology.
• Exploration on which functions and roles social robots might fill in 
religious contexts without replacing humans.
• Identifying theological aims of specific faith communities that social 
robots might contribute to.
• What anthropomorphic robot-building says about our conceptions of 
being human within religious contexts – including attention to central 
themes of identity, selfhood, authority, communal life, ritual, and so on.
• Social robots in pedagogical and catechistic perspectives.
• Automation in devotional life.

FORMAT
The workshop will run two legs of 3-4 presentations of 20 minutes 
(including 5-10 minutes for questions), depending on the final number of 
accepted speakers. A panel discussion will follow before opening up to 
the floor for general discussion and questions.

CONFIRMED PRESENTERS
• Prof. Dr. Ilona Nord, Wurzburg University, Germany: Critical research 
on representing the divine in robotic technology
• Dr. Diana Löffler, Siegen University, Germany: Designing novel 
complementary robots through the notion of robotic “superpowers”
• Ass. Prof. Gabriele Trovato, Waseda University, Japan: Pionering 
Religion in Robotics
• Prof. Dr. Charles Ess, Oslo University: Theomorphic robots as testbeds 
in religious practice

INSTRUCTIONS
Authors responding to the call should upload their proposal as short 
abstract (100 words) through the easychair website no later than April 
13: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rp2020#

Login is as author and submit your proposal to the workshop on 
‘Theomorphic Robots and Religious Contexts’

Authors of accepted paper should be prepared to finalize and submit a 
long abstract (1000-2000 words including references) by April 26.
Important: Check the conference submission guidelines here: 
https://conferences.au.dk/robo- philosophy/submission-guidelines/

All accepted contributions will be published in the conference proceedings.

TIMELINE
April 13 	Deadline for submissions of short abstracts
April 17	Notification of acceptance
April 26	Deadline for long abstract

Direct your questions to Simon Balle, snb at cas.au.dk

Many thanks in advance,
- charles ess

-- 
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
University of Oslo
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>

Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, 
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0
<https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>

3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out
<http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>

Postboks 1093
Blindern 0317
Oslo, Norway
c.m.ess at media.uio.no