We know that robots are just machines. Why then do we often talk about them as if they were alive? Laura Voss explores this fascinating phenomenon, providing a rich insight into practices of animacy (and inanimacy) attribution to robot technology: from science-fiction to robotics R&D, from science communication to media discourse, and from the theoretical perspectives of STS to the cognitive sciences. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, and backed by a wealth of empirical material, Voss shows how scientists, engineers, journalists - and everyone else - can face the challenge of robot technology appearing 'a little bit alive' with a reflexive and yet pragmatic stance.

Laura Voss is a science manager in the Research Strategy Unit of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. With a background in neuro-cognitive, organizational, and occupational psychology, she previously worked as a science and technology studies researcher and as a science manager at the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) and for international robotics R&D consortiums at the Technische Universität München.