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Full-Text Articles in Robotics

Evaluating Regularized Logistic Regression And K-Nn On Mnist Under Increasing Random Missingness, Daniel Markwei Feb 2026

Evaluating Regularized Logistic Regression And K-Nn On Mnist Under Increasing Random Missingness, Daniel Markwei

Data Science and Data Mining

This paper investigates the effect of random missingness on the performance of regularized multinomial logistic regression and the k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) classifier for handwritten digit recognition on the MNIST dataset. In particular, we study L1-regularized (LASSO) logistic regression and L2-regularized (Ridge) logistic regression alongside k-NN. Varying percentages of random missingness were introduced into the original dataset, and each model was evaluated in terms of its classification performance. The results show that random missingness degrades the performance of all three classifiers. Overall, k-NN consistently achieves higher accuracy than both L1- and L2-regularized logistic regression across all missingness levels; however, its performance …

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Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 12 Jan 2026

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 12

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 12.

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Whole Earth Machines: Human-Machine Communication For A Green Transition, Klaus Bruhn Jensen Jan 2026

Whole Earth Machines: Human-Machine Communication For A Green Transition, Klaus Bruhn Jensen

Human-Machine Communication

The climate crisis of the 21st century represents an existential risk to humanity and biodiversity, posing essential questions of how communication may serve to coordinate mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. One recent response has been massive investments by governments and corporations in systems providing feedback on the state of Earth— Whole Earth Machines (WEMs). For human-machine communication (HMC) studies, WEMs invite sustained engagement with communication infrastructures as a key constituent of research agendas, beyond the interface encounters at the center of many HMC studies to date. The article presents a conceptualization and operationalization of WEMs as critical infrastructures …

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Unsupervised Transfer Learning And Its Applications In Human Pose Estimation, Qucheng Peng Jan 2026

Unsupervised Transfer Learning And Its Applications In Human Pose Estimation, Qucheng Peng

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation advances unsupervised transfer learning by addressing critical constraints in data privacy, intellectual property protection, and deployment in unseen environments. We propose novel frameworks for three progressively restrictive settings: Black-Box Domain Adaptation (BBDA), Source-Free Domain Adaptation (SFDA), Domain Generalization (DG), and Lifelong Domain Adaptation (LLDA) for 3D human pose estimation (HPE). To address BBDA, where only model outputs are accessible, we introduce RAIN (Regularization on Input and Network). This framework utilizes Phase MixUp for frequency-domain input regularization and Subnetwork Distillation to combat source overfitting.

Extending these privacy-preserving paradigms to spatial tasks, we present the first SFDA framework for HPE. …

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Watch Your Step, Mind The Crowd: Socially Compliant Navigation In Unstructured Environments, Jack Vice Jan 2026

Watch Your Step, Mind The Crowd: Socially Compliant Navigation In Unstructured Environments, Jack Vice

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Autonomous mobile robots increasingly operate in complex real-world environments characterized by uneven terrain, dynamic obstacles, and human presence. This dissertation addresses the fundamental challenge of developing adaptive navigation strategies that enable robots to safely and effectively traverse unstructured outdoor environments including construction sites, agricultural fields, and disaster areas while maintaining social compliance around people. We advance this capability through five complementary contributions that collectively target dynamic, unstructured, human-occupied environments. First, we demonstrate evolutionary optimization of legged mobility for uneven terrain. Second, we propose using a spatiotemporal autoencoder to learn the temporal dynamics of moving people and objects. Third, we introduce …

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Use Matters: How Different Ways Of Using Chatgpt Drive Ai Acceptance And Solutionism, Florian Golo Flaßhoff, Fabian Anicker, Frank Marcinkowski Sep 2025

Use Matters: How Different Ways Of Using Chatgpt Drive Ai Acceptance And Solutionism, Florian Golo Flaßhoff, Fabian Anicker, Frank Marcinkowski

Human-Machine Communication

Artificial intelligence is central to solutionism—the vision of a world where all major problems are solved through technology. This study theorizes about how human–AI communication shapes attitudes toward AI and influences the formation of public opinion, sparking solutionist imaginaries. We empirically examine the attitude formation resulting from the non-simulated use of an unmanipulated conversational model in a controlled laboratory experiment. Using a between-subjects design, participants engaged in three semi-structured 20-minute sessions with ChatGPT, providing a novel perspective on the effects of its use. The findings reveal that mere use of ChatGPT causally increases AI acceptance; however, its impact significantly depends …

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Generative Ai: Another Chapter Of Human-Machine Communication, Seungahn Nah, Patric R. Spence Sep 2025

Generative Ai: Another Chapter Of Human-Machine Communication, Seungahn Nah, Patric R. Spence

Human-Machine Communication

This editorial introduces a special issue of Human-Machine Communication that explores how generative AI reshapes the communicative relationship between humans and machines. It highlights emerging research on technology use, education, interpersonal dynamics, and trust in AI-generated content, emphasizing that generative AI’s significance lies not in novelty but in the social negotiations it provokes around meaning, authority, and credibility.

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Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 10 Aug 2025

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 10

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 10.

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Design Of A Simplified Biomimetic Autonomous Entertainment Robot, Jessica E. Morris, Shanny May Ruiz, Morgan Snyder, Hannah Guild, Gabriel Cardona-Tous Jul 2025

Design Of A Simplified Biomimetic Autonomous Entertainment Robot, Jessica E. Morris, Shanny May Ruiz, Morgan Snyder, Hannah Guild, Gabriel Cardona-Tous

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The advancement of technology has paved the way for robots with the purpose of entertainment to become more popular. However, the exploration of biomimetic actions as a factor of entertainment is majorly limited to the mimicry of young domesticated animals such as puppies and kittens, with some notable exceptions. However, there is a wide range of possibilities for robotics that mimic animals marketed as pets, outside of the common examples. This work seeks to explore the opportunity for autonomous systems with entertainment driven and expressive actions in the family of Testudines (turtles and tortoises), an undomesticated species, but still often …

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Integrated Compliant Structure For A Hand Exoskeleton, Tristan R. Koopman Jan 2025

Integrated Compliant Structure For A Hand Exoskeleton, Tristan R. Koopman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis presents the design and prototyping of a wearable hand exoskeleton that integrates a flexible structural framework to assist with hand movement while maintaining comfort and anatomical conformity. The goal was to create a device that supports tendon-driven actuation through a compliant structure, combining elements of rigidity and flexibility to match the natural geometry and motion of the human hand. Traditional hand exoskeletons often trade off motion for structure or vice versa. This project aims to bridge that gap with a hybrid compliant design that balances flexibility and support. The design process followed an iterative approach involving rapid prototyping …

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Towards Human-Machine Collaboration In Autonomous Material Handling On Construction Sites, Jyrki Oraskari, Lukas Kirner, Marit Zöcklein, Sigrid Brell-Cokcan Nov 2024

Towards Human-Machine Collaboration In Autonomous Material Handling On Construction Sites, Jyrki Oraskari, Lukas Kirner, Marit Zöcklein, Sigrid Brell-Cokcan

Human-Machine Communication

In the contemporary construction industry, the shortage of skilled labor has prompted the exploration of automation as a remedy and machine autonomy as a potential solution to the environmental conditions at the site. This research explores the balance between human oversight and the independent decision-making capabilities of robots for material delivery on construction sites. Using a scenario-based approach, autonomy in construction robotics is evaluated across four human-machine interaction cases with spatial and temporal dimensions. The expected outcomes revolve around improved safety through better human-machine communication and establishing an interoperable data model to enhance robot autonomy. This aims to automate tasks …

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Authentic Impediments: The Influence Of Identity Threat, Cultivated Perceptions, And Personality On Robophobia, Kate K. Mays Jun 2024

Authentic Impediments: The Influence Of Identity Threat, Cultivated Perceptions, And Personality On Robophobia, Kate K. Mays

Human-Machine Communication

Considering possible impediments to authentic interactions with machines, this study explores contributors to robophobia from the potential dual influence of technological features and individual traits. Through a 2 x 2 x 3 online experiment, a robot’s physical human-likeness, gender, and status were manipulated and individual differences in robot beliefs and personality traits were measured. The effects of robot traits on phobia were non-significant. Overall, subjective beliefs about what robots are, cultivated by media portrayals, whether they threaten human identity, are moral, and have agency were the strongest predictors of robophobia. Those with higher internal locus of control and neuroticism, and …

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What’S In A Name And/Or A Frame? Ontological Framing And Naming Of Social Actors And Social Responses, David Westerman, Michael Vosburg, Xinyue Liu, Patric R. Spence Jun 2024

What’S In A Name And/Or A Frame? Ontological Framing And Naming Of Social Actors And Social Responses, David Westerman, Michael Vosburg, Xinyue Liu, Patric R. Spence

Human-Machine Communication

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally a communication field. Thus, the study of how AI interacts with us is likely to be heavily driven by communication. The current study examined two things that may impact people’s perceptions of socialness of a social actor: one nonverbal (ontological frame) and one verbal (providing a name) with a 2 (human vs. robot) x 2 (named or not) experiment. Participants saw one of four videos of a study “host” crossing these conditions and responded to various perceptual measures about the socialness and task ability of that host. Overall, data were consistent with hypotheses that whether …

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Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 7 Special Issue: Mediatization Apr 2024

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 7 Special Issue: Mediatization

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 7. Special Issue on Mediatization

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Artificial Sociality, Simone Natale, Iliana Depounti Apr 2024

Artificial Sociality, Simone Natale, Iliana Depounti

Human-Machine Communication

This article proposes the notion of Artificial Sociality to describe communicative AI technologies that create the impression of social behavior. Existing tools that activate Artificial Sociality include, among others, Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, voice assistants, virtual influencers, socialbots and companion chatbots such as Replika. The article highlights three key issues that are likely to shape present and future debates about these technologies, as well as design practices and regulation efforts: the modelling of human sociality that foregrounds it, the problem of deception and the issue of control from the part of the users. Ethical, social and cultural …

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Mediatization And Human-Machine Communication: Trajectories, Discussions, Perspectives, Andreas Hepp, Göran Bolin, Andrea L. Guzman, Wiebke Loosen Apr 2024

Mediatization And Human-Machine Communication: Trajectories, Discussions, Perspectives, Andreas Hepp, Göran Bolin, Andrea L. Guzman, Wiebke Loosen

Human-Machine Communication

As research fields, mediatization and Human-Machine Communication (HMC) have distinct historical trajectories. While mediatization research is concerned with the fundamental interrelation between the transformation of media and communications and cultural and societal changes, the much younger field of HMC delves into human meaning-making in interactions with machines. However, the recent wave of “deep mediatization,” characterized by an increasing emphasis on general communicative automation and the rise of communicative AI, highlights a shared interest in technology’s role within human interaction. This introductory article examines the trajectories of both fields, demonstrating how mediatization research “zooms out” from overarching questions of societal and …

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Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 6 Jul 2023

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 6

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 6.

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Valenced Media Effects On Robot-Related Attitudes And Mental Models: A Parasocial Contact Approach, Jan-Philipp Stein, Jaime Banks Jul 2023

Valenced Media Effects On Robot-Related Attitudes And Mental Models: A Parasocial Contact Approach, Jan-Philipp Stein, Jaime Banks

Human-Machine Communication

Despite rapid advancements in robotics, most people still only come into contact with robots via mass media. Consequently, robot-related attitudes are often discussed as the result of habituation and cultivation processes, as they unfold during repeated media exposure. In this paper, we introduce parasocial contact theory to this line of research— arguing that it better acknowledges interpersonal and intergroup dynamics found in modern human–robot interactions. Moreover, conceptualizing mediated robot encounters as parasocial contact integrates both qualitative and quantitative aspects into one comprehensive approach. A multi-method experiment offers empirical support for our arguments: Although many elements of participants’ beliefs and attitudes …

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Triggered By Socialbots: Communicative Anthropomorphization Of Bots In Online Conversations, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Kaisa Laitinen, Minna Koivula, Tanja Sihvonen Jul 2023

Triggered By Socialbots: Communicative Anthropomorphization Of Bots In Online Conversations, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Kaisa Laitinen, Minna Koivula, Tanja Sihvonen

Human-Machine Communication

This article examines communicative anthropomorphization, that is, assigning of humanlike features, of socialbots in communication between humans and bots. Situated in the field of human-machine communication, the article asks how socialbots are devised as anthropomorphized communication companions and explores the ways in which human users anthropomorphize bots through communication. Through an analysis of two datasets of bots interacting with humans on social media, we find that bots are communicatively anthropomorphized by directly addressing them, assigning agency to them, drawing parallels between humans and bots, and assigning emotions and opinions to bots. We suggest that socialbots inherently have anthropomorphized characteristics and …

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Disentangling Two Fundamental Paradigms In Human-Machine Communication Research: Media Equation And Media Evocation, Margot J. Van Der Goot, Katrin Etzrodt Jul 2023

Disentangling Two Fundamental Paradigms In Human-Machine Communication Research: Media Equation And Media Evocation, Margot J. Van Der Goot, Katrin Etzrodt

Human-Machine Communication

In this theoretical paper, we delineate two fundamental paradigms in how scholars conceptualize the nature of machines in human-machine communication (HMC). In addition to the well-known Media Equation paradigm, we distinguish the Media Evocation paradigm. The Media Equation paradigm entails that people respond to machines as if they are humans, whereas the Media Evocation paradigm conceptualizes machines as objects that can evoke reflections about ontological categories. For each paradigm, we present the main propositions, research methodologies, and current challenges. We conclude with theoretical implications on how to integrate the two paradigms, and with a call for mixed-method research that includes …

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Designing A Loving Robot: A Social Construction Analysis Of A Sex Robot Creator’S Vision, Annette Masterson Dec 2022

Designing A Loving Robot: A Social Construction Analysis Of A Sex Robot Creator’S Vision, Annette Masterson

Human-Machine Communication

In 2018, one of the world’s first sex robots was released by CEO Matt McMullen and his company, RealDoll. With artificial intelligence capabilities, the Harmony model is meant to support and converse with users. Using a social construction of technology theory lens, this study develops the theory’s fourth level of analysis, emphasizing mass media’s construction abilities. A critical discourse analysis of 38 publicity interviews found a tendency to emphasize the companionship of sex robots while envisioning a future where integration is normalized, and a sentient robot is possible. As the creator, McMullen’s vision could determine the future of robotic design, …

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The Evolution Of Gendered Software: Products, Scientific Reasoning, Criticism, And Tools, Victoria A. E. Kratel Dec 2022

The Evolution Of Gendered Software: Products, Scientific Reasoning, Criticism, And Tools, Victoria A. E. Kratel

Human-Machine Communication

Over the past 7 decades, gendered software has become globally established. In this theoretical distribution, I outline the evolution of gendered software. The journey of gendered software started with the raw idea fueled by Alan Turing’s imitation game in the 1950s. And only shortly thereafter, in the 1960s and 1970s, the first gendered software products like Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA were developed. Thus, academia took its time to not only explore technological aspects, but to further investigate the matter of gender in the 1990s CASA-paradigm (Nass et al., 1994) and Media Equation (Reeves & Nass, 1996). As these theories reasoned the …

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Do People Perceive Alexa As Gendered? A Cross-Cultural Study Of People’S Perceptions, Expectations, And Desires Of Alexa, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards, Anna Maria Manganelli, Chad Edwards, Federico De Luca Dec 2022

Do People Perceive Alexa As Gendered? A Cross-Cultural Study Of People’S Perceptions, Expectations, And Desires Of Alexa, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards, Anna Maria Manganelli, Chad Edwards, Federico De Luca

Human-Machine Communication

Mainly, the scholarly debate on Alexa has focused on sexist/anti-woman gender representations in the everyday life of many families, on a cluster of themes such as privacy, insecurity, and trust, and on the world of education and health. This paper takes another stance and explores via online survey methodology how university student respondents in two countries (the United States, n = 333; and Italy, n = 322) perceive Alexa’s image and gender, what they expect from this voice-based assistant, and how they would like Alexa to be. Results of a free association exercise showed that Alexa’s image was scarcely embodied …

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Gender And Human-Machine Communication: Where Are We?, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards Dec 2022

Gender And Human-Machine Communication: Where Are We?, Leopoldina Fortunati, Autumn P. Edwards

Human-Machine Communication

In this introduction to the fifth volume of the journal Human-Machine Communication, we present and discuss the five articles focusing on gender and human-machine communication. In this essay, we will analyze the theme of gender, including how this notion has historically and politically been set up, and for what reasons. We will start by considering gender in in-person communication, then we will progress to consider what happens to gender when it is mediated by the most important ICTs that preceded HMC: the telephone, mobile phone, and computer-mediated communication (CMC). We outline the historical framework necessary to analyze the last section …

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Exoskeletons And The Future Of Work: Envisioning Power And Control In A Workforce Without Limits, Gavin L. Kirkwood, J. Nan Wilkenfeld, Norah E. Dunbar Apr 2022

Exoskeletons And The Future Of Work: Envisioning Power And Control In A Workforce Without Limits, Gavin L. Kirkwood, J. Nan Wilkenfeld, Norah E. Dunbar

Human-Machine Communication

Exoskeletons are an emerging form of technology that combines the skills of both machines and humans to give wearers the ability to complete physically demanding tasks that would be too strenuous for most humans. Exoskeleton adoption has the potential to both enhance and disrupt many aspects of work, including power dynamics in the workplace and the human-machine interactions that take place. Dyadic Power Theory (DPT) is a useful theory for exploring the impacts of exoskeleton adoption. In this conceptual paper, we extend DPT to relationships between humans and machines in organizations, as well as human-human communication where use of an …

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Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume 4 Apr 2022

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume 4

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 4.

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Embracing Ai-Based Education: Perceived Social Presence Of Human Teachers And Expectations About Machine Teachers In Online Education, Jihyun Kim, Kelly Merrill Jr., Kun Xu, Deanna D. Sellnow Apr 2022

Embracing Ai-Based Education: Perceived Social Presence Of Human Teachers And Expectations About Machine Teachers In Online Education, Jihyun Kim, Kelly Merrill Jr., Kun Xu, Deanna D. Sellnow

Human-Machine Communication

Technological advancements in education have turned the idea of machines as teachers into a reality. To better understand this phenomenon, the present study explores how college students develop expectations (or anticipations) about a machine teacher, particularly an AI teaching assistant. Specifically, the study examines whether students’ previous experiences with online courses taught by a human teacher would influence their expectations about AI teaching assistants in future online courses. An online survey was conducted to collect data from college students in the United States. Findings indicate that positively experienced social presence of a human teacher helps develop positive expectations about an …

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Sex With Robots And Human-Machine Sexualities: Encounters Between Human-Machine Communication And Sexuality Studies, Marco Dehnert Apr 2022

Sex With Robots And Human-Machine Sexualities: Encounters Between Human-Machine Communication And Sexuality Studies, Marco Dehnert

Human-Machine Communication

Sex robots are a controversial topic. Understood as artificial-intelligence enhanced humanoid robots designed for use in partnered and solo sex, sex robots offer ample opportunities for theorizing from a Human-Machine Communication (HMC) perspective. This comparative literature review conjoins the seemingly disconnected literatures of HMC and sexuality studies (SeS) to explore questions surrounding intimacy, love, desire, sex, and sexuality among humans and machines. In particular, I argue for understanding human-machine sexualities as communicative sexuotechnical-assemblages, extending previous efforts in both HMC and SeS for more-than-human, ecological, and more fluid approaches to humans and machines, as well as to sex and sexuality. This …

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I Get By With A Little Help From My Bots: Implications Of Machine Agents In The Context Of Social Support, Austin Beattie, Andrew C. High Apr 2022

I Get By With A Little Help From My Bots: Implications Of Machine Agents In The Context Of Social Support, Austin Beattie, Andrew C. High

Human-Machine Communication

In this manuscript we discuss the increasing use of machine agents as potential sources of support for humans. Continued examination of the use of machine agents, particularly chatbots (or “bots”) for support is crucial as more supportive interactions occur with these technologies. Building off extant research on supportive communication, this manuscript reviews research that has implications for bots as support providers. At the culmination of the literature review, several propositions regarding how factors of technological efficacy, problem severity, perceived stigma, and humanness affect the process of support are proposed. By reviewing relevant studies, we integrate research on human-machine and supportive …

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Considering The Context To Build Theory In Hci, Hri, And Hmc: Explicating Differences In Processes Of Communication And Socialization With Social Technologies, Andrew Gambino, Bingjie Liu Apr 2022

Considering The Context To Build Theory In Hci, Hri, And Hmc: Explicating Differences In Processes Of Communication And Socialization With Social Technologies, Andrew Gambino, Bingjie Liu

Human-Machine Communication

The proliferation and integration of social technologies has occurred quickly, and the specific technologies with which we engage are ever-changing. The dynamic nature of the development and use of social technologies is often acknowledged by researchers as a limitation. In this manuscript, however, we present a discussion on the implications of our modern technological context by focusing on processes of socialization and communication that are fundamentally different from their interpersonal corollary. These are presented and discussed with the goal of providing theoretical building blocks toward a more robust understanding of phenomena of human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, human-machine communication, and interpersonal …

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