Charting the ecosystem of trust in Cat Royale: or what it takes to trust a robot to play with cats
Charting the ecosystem of trust in Cat Royale: or what it takes to trust a robot to play with cats
We present a detailed and unusual case study of ensuring trustworthiness in social robots in practice - the artwork Cat Royale in which a robot played with a family of three cats. We reveal how delivering Cat Royale involved tackling diverse aspects of trustworthiness beyond the immediate interaction between cats and robot, from the control room, to animal welfare expertise, extensive ethical review, and carefully planned public engagement. We contribute a framework for describing ecosystems of trust comprising five layers: personal workspace, orchestration, wider workspace, organisational culture, and the public sphere.
Benford, Steve
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Barnard, Pepita
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Sharples, Sarah
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Webb, Helena
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Castle-Green, Simon
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Schneiders, Eike
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Ngo, Victor
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Chamberlain, Alan
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Fischer, Joel
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Salimbeni, Guido
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Tandavanitj, Nick
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Adams, Matt
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Farr, Ju Row
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Benford, Steve
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Barnard, Pepita
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Sharples, Sarah
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Webb, Helena
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Castle-Green, Simon
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Schneiders, Eike
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Ngo, Victor
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Chamberlain, Alan
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Fischer, Joel
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Salimbeni, Guido
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Tandavanitj, Nick
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Adams, Matt
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Farr, Ju Row
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Benford, Steve, Barnard, Pepita, Sharples, Sarah, Webb, Helena, Castle-Green, Simon, Schneiders, Eike, Ngo, Victor, Chamberlain, Alan, Fischer, Joel, Salimbeni, Guido, Tandavanitj, Nick, Adams, Matt and Farr, Ju Row
(2025)
Charting the ecosystem of trust in Cat Royale: or what it takes to trust a robot to play with cats.
In Proceedings of International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR'25).
14 pp
.
(In Press)
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
We present a detailed and unusual case study of ensuring trustworthiness in social robots in practice - the artwork Cat Royale in which a robot played with a family of three cats. We reveal how delivering Cat Royale involved tackling diverse aspects of trustworthiness beyond the immediate interaction between cats and robot, from the control room, to animal welfare expertise, extensive ethical review, and carefully planned public engagement. We contribute a framework for describing ecosystems of trust comprising five layers: personal workspace, orchestration, wider workspace, organisational culture, and the public sphere.
Text
Charting the Ecosystem of Trust in Cat Royale
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 17 June 2025
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 505174
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/505174
PURE UUID: 3d025573-e548-41cf-a3ed-d18a8ff322a2
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 01 Oct 2025 16:41
Last modified: 02 Oct 2025 02:16
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Contributors
Author:
Steve Benford
Author:
Pepita Barnard
Author:
Sarah Sharples
Author:
Helena Webb
Author:
Simon Castle-Green
Author:
Eike Schneiders
Author:
Victor Ngo
Author:
Alan Chamberlain
Author:
Joel Fischer
Author:
Guido Salimbeni
Author:
Nick Tandavanitj
Author:
Matt Adams
Author:
Ju Row Farr
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