Robots en nuestra niebla: una etnógrafa en el nuevo mundo laboral

What do robots mean for the future of work? While images of evermore capable robots capture much of our public fascination, situated accounts of robots at work paint a radically different picture. Drawing on theories of inseparability between human and machine agencies and ethnographies of robots in surgery, hospitality, and elderly care, I trace how, instead of automation, robots result in subtle reconfigurations of work that change how bodies move, practices are performed, and values are enacted. I argue that following “robots in the wild” and abandoning preconceived assumptions of what technology “is” or “should be” allows us to appreciate how robots become an inseparable part of the ongoing flow of practice. The reality of contemporary workplaces is thus one where robots are less glamorous but paradoxically no less consequential, as the ways in which work gets reconfigured remain unnoticed and unaccounted for.