ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between aesthetics and machines such as social robots, through an examination of how cute design brings together questions of embodiment, mechanization and intimacy. While robotic objects in the previous century were for the most part built to automate manufacturing and other related industries, the field today includes machines that solicit human affection by simulating pets and partners. Social robots, as the adjective “social” indicates, are approachable, interactive partners that are capable of more than just mechanical gestures or functions. A human who interacts with a robotic pet tends not to regard it as an impersonal piece of machinery, instead overlooking its machine-based intricacies in favor of its simplicity and predictability of form.
