Jenny Bourne

Care robots, designed to offer companionship and assistance to humans have generated significant global interest. However, integrating those robots into the fabric of people’s daily lives presents unique challenges and opportunities that vary across cultural contexts. This paper aims to explore the impact of care robots on humans from a cross-cultural perspective, highlighting the importance of understanding diverse cultural dynamics in the design and governance of these technologies. This paper begins with an overview of the history of care robots, tracing their development through case studies from key countries, such as Japan, the United States, and China. Following this introduction, it delves into essential aspects of human relationships, including trust, emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence, and companionship, and examines how those aspects translate into human–robot relationships. This paper argues that while these factors offer valuable insights into understanding the dynamics of human–robot relationships, the uniqueness of these interactions introduces additional layers of complexity and nuance. Furthermore, this paper points out that the natureNature and depth of human–robot relationships are influenced by cultural contexts, suggesting that a one-size-fits-all approach to designing care robots is insufficient for a multicultural future. To systematically explore human–robot interactions, this paper employs two critical theoretical frameworks in cross-cultural communicationCommunication: HofstedeHofstede, G.’s cultural dimensionsCultural dimensions and Hall’s high- and low-context communicationCommunication models. The findings suggest that communicationCommunication styles, interaction patterns, and even the robots’ voice and appearance could play a pivotal role in facilitating culturally appropriate human–robot interactions. The paper argues that, by aligning robot design with cultural nuances, care robots can transcend their mechanical natureNature and be perceived as genuine companionsCompanions, enriching users’ quality of life, and social interactions. Recognizing the WesternWesternorientation of HofstedeHofstede, G. and Hall’s frameworks, the paper turns to Eastern cultural and philosophical traditions to further strengthen its arguments. It reviews Shintoism, DaoismDaoism, Daoist, and Confucianism’sConfucianism responses to perceived existential risks from care robots and introduces an East Asian philosophical concept of GongshengGongsheng (or kyōsei in Japanese), a worldviewWorldviewof mutual embeddednessMutual embeddedness, coexistence, and co-becoming. This paper concludes that designing care robots that are attuned to the cultural dimensionsCultural dimensions, communicationCommunication styles, and philosophical traditions, while adhering to the principle of GongshengGongsheng, could pave the way for a future where robots not only assist but also enhance human life through meaningful and respectful interactions. In this envisioned future, robots would be seen as valuable companionsCompanions capable of contributing positively to the emotional and social well-being of human society. This shift is not just technological but deeply cultural, requiring thoughtful design that prioritizes trust, empathy, respect, and mutual understanding.