The Paradoxical Role of Humanoid Robots in Libraries: Effects on Collective Knowledge Construction

Humanoid artificial intelligence (AI) robots enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance AI literacy. In public libraries, humanoid AI robots are increasingly used to serve patrons and support individual learning and collective knowledge construction. New knowledge is created when the collectives (i.e., patrons, humanoid robots, and librarians) engage in planned and emergent interactions. Even though the use of humanoid robots facilitates collective knowledge construction, it also inhibits this process. Due to the limited conversational and sensory capabilities of robots, collective interactions are impaired, and knowledge construction is disrupted. Hence, concerns are raised in the theoretical literature that AI robots in libraries inhibit collective knowledge construction. This short paper theorizes the processes of collective knowledge construction through humanoid robot use in public libraries. We delineate the enabling and inhibitory effects of robots and propose design principles for alleviating the inhibitory effects while proposing a qualitative multi-site case study.