Wording Robotics

<p>Robots challenge humans’ beliefs and expectations. Hence regardless of whether they are the audience of a conference the visitors of a lab the citizens in general some journalists or the European Parliament the first step in order to gain a better understanding of the field of robotics is obviously to consult the experts. Roboticists seem indeed to be in the best position to guide society in this matter whether it is in the everyday life or within an official institution. Today however there is a gap between the robots as they are actually thought and built and the <i>intelligent</i> and <i>autonomous</i> machines as they are perceived by the society. </p><p>How can we explain it? Do the words borrowed from the living organisms and used to describe robots play a role in the confusion about the status of the discipline of robotics? The texts gathered within this book focus on the problematic of <i>wording robotics </i>from various perspectives. They are the resultsof a unique interdisciplinary meeting gathering roboticists linguists philosophers and neuroscientists the 4th Workshop of Anthropomorphic Motion Factory held at LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse on Nov 31st - Dec 1st 2017.</p>