Article Summary by Yugin Teo

This paper is interested in how three science fiction texts that came out in the 2010s explored in distinct ways the relationship between robot carers and their human users: the films Robot & Frank (2012) and Big Hero 6 (2014), and the television series Humans (2015⁠–⁠2019). The paper examines ethical issues in the use of robots in care work, including fears of the replacement of human care professionals, and what kinds of affective relationships might be expected from human-robot interactions in care work. The paper concludes that the provision of a more mutually dependent working relationship between users and care robots could lead to a better quality of care.

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Yugin Teo is a senior lecturer in Communications and English at Bournemouth University. He is the author of Kazuo Ishiguro and Memory, and his research interests are in contemporary literature, science fiction, and film. He is co-editor of a forthcoming special issue on nostalgia for Science Fiction Studies.