Dr Kathleen Richardson is a Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University College London.

Kathleen’s postdoctoral research is a study of special kinds of robots for the therapeutic assistance for children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These robots are termed social and humanoid, robotic machines and persons with ASD are said to lack social capacities – yet Kathleen will follow their interactions in the clinical and lab spaces in the UK and US. Studies have suggested that the mere presence of a humanoid robot can enhance the social capacities of persons with ASD. This presents an interesting issue for anthropological theorizing of the social – what does it mean to be social? Who or what can or cannot be said to have it?

Kathleen completed her doctoral studies in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge and conducted fieldwork in robotics labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her thesis, Annihilating Difference? Robots and Building Design at MIT examined relationalities between humans and nonhumans through a study of robots and buildings on the MIT campus.

Dr Richardson also writes for the science, technology and educational media on issues of robotics and social networking.