The home is undergoing a process of robotisation. While robots have traditionally operated within industrial contexts, robotics is increasingly turning to the domestic sphere, targeting the home as an emerging market and frontier for robotic development. Companies are now positioning home robots as carers, servants, and companions for our future home lives, a promise that has been met with substantial funding and investments from venture capital. Some industry leaders have claimed that this robotised future is arriving as early as 2027, and will usher in an age of “abundance” that will liberate humans to have the time to finally “focus on what really matters”.
In this talk, I explore what sociology can bring to the study of robots. Tracing the history of the home robot, I critically interrogate the imaginary of the robotised domestic future being promulgated by industry. Further, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I go beyond the hype to detail the robotic realities on the ground. Through this, I explore questions regarding the politics of technology and labour, interrogating whose vision of the future home robots are currently being designed for.
Event Details:
Date: Thursday 29th October 2026
Time: 12:30pm - 13:30pm (AEST)
Format: Zoom Webinar
Webinar
Cost: complimentary
Your Speakers
Jessie Liu
Jessie Liu is a sociologist of race, gender, and labour with interests at the intersection of Feminist Science and Technology studies, Asian studies, and Migration studies. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab studying the robotisation of the domestic sphere and the rise of cute home robots. She completed her PhD in the School of Sociology at ANU in 2024. Her dissertation Formulas of Chineseness: Tracing Daigou Between Australia and China was awarded the TASA Jean Martin Award for Best Sociology PhD Thesis, the J.G. Crawford Prize, and the ANU Gender Institute Prize for Excellence in Gender and Sexuality Research.