Filosofia Theoretica

Volume 10, Issue 3, September/December 2021

Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Gender and Humanoid Robots
A Somaesthetic Analysis

I discuss in this paper how robotic scientists tend to produce replicas of human bodies that are consistent with their own cultural norms by exploring how gender is embodied in humanoid robots. My focus is specifically on care robots, and their reception in the African context. I argue that since the bodies of the robotic scientists are the reference points according to which they design and manufacture robots, a somaesthetics of robotics can best reveal and challenge how gendered norms are materialised in these machines.