This paper examines the role that enchantment plays in the design of AI things by constructing a taxonomy of design approaches that increase or decrease the perception of magic and enchantment. We start from the design discourse surrounding recent developments in AI technologies, highlighting specific interaction qualities such as algorithmic uncertainties and errors and articulating relations to the rhetoric of magic and supernatural thinking. Through analyzing and reflecting upon 52 students’ design projects from two editions of a Masters course in design and AI, we identify seven design principles and unpack the effects of each in terms of enchantment and disenchantment. We conclude by articulating ways in which this taxonomy can be approached and appropriated by design/HCI practitioners, especially to support exploration and reflexivity.

Design fixation, a phenomenon describing designers' adherence to pre-existing ideas or concepts that constrain design outcomes, is particularly prevalent in human-robot interaction (HRI), for example, due to collectively held and stabilised imaginations of what a robot should look like or behave. In this paper, we explore the contribution of creative AI tools to overcome design fixation and enhance creative processes in HRI design. In a four weeks long design exploration, we used generative text-to-image models to ideate and visualise robotic artefacts and robot sociotechnical imaginaries. We exchanged results along with reflections through a digital postcard format. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach to imagining novel robot concepts, surfacing existing assumptions and robot stereotypes, and situating robotic artefacts in context. We discuss the contribution to designerly HRI practices and conclude with lessons learnt for using creative AI tools as an emerging design practice in HRI research and beyond.

This article presents an investigation of the implications of designing for children’s playful learning with robots. This study was carried out by adopting a Research through Design approach that resulted in the development of a novel low-anthropomorphic robot called Shybo. The article reports the main phases of the project: the preliminary and exploratory research that was carried out to define a list of design requirements; the design of the robot and its supplementary materials for carrying out playful learning experiences; and the evaluation of the project that involved both parents and children. The robot, in fact, was finally tested as part of a two-hour experience that engaged children in activities related to the associations between sounds and colours. The article presents and discusses the results of this evaluation to point out positive aspects of the experience, emerging issues and hints for future works. These are documented to share lessons learned that might be supportive of the general development of children’s playful learning and cognitive experiences with robots.

Robots and Cultural Heritage: New Museum Experiences