September 22, 2023

The former Budget Terminal of Singapore Changi Airport was closed on 25 September 2012 to make way for the construction of Terminal 4. This new terminal boasts automation technology to smoothen the commuter experience, from self check-in and bag drops to automated customs clearance.

The introduction of these forms of automation has contributed to the evolution of how we imagine automation and robotics in the workplace. Predominantly, conversations on the topic focus on the increasing potential for robotic work to augment or supplant human labour.

Expanding the conversation over robotic work by drawing largely from examples in air travel, Associate Professor Weiqiang Lin (NUS Geography), Professor Peter Adey (University of London), and Associate Professor Tina Harris (University of Amsterdam) propose that the interactions between human and robotic subjects are more complex in ‘Dispositions towards automation: Capital, technology, and labour relations in aeromobilities’ (Dialogues in Human Geography, 2022).

The researchers draw heavily upon the geographic concept of ‘dispositions’, which refers to the patterned ways in which people make sense of and interact with their surroundings, to explore how automation and robotics can interplay with the world of work. Dispositions are constantly in flux because they depend on cumulative past experiences. That dispositions are everchanging also means that the realm of possibilities for interacting with technology is continually evolving.

The article identifies five major ‘tropes’, or typologies, for how technology can be introduced, particularly by large companies and service providers such that human dispositions towards these technologies can be altered. These tropes are enchantment, aspiration, experimentation, gamification, and acquiescence. The study focuses on how the relationship between workers, robotic technologies, corporations, and consumers can change and evolve with their interactions with these typified tropes.

Enchantment refers to how robots are introduced in ways that may be pleasurable or likely to be seen in positively by their target consumers. In this way, the enchantment of one form of automation masks other more intrusive forms of automation deployment.

Aspiration refers to how technological progress is heralded as a symbol of civilisational progress. Advances in technology, including the adoption of automation and the associated change in values (e.g., from personal service to data flows), are thus accepted as positive developments.

Experimentation refers to the perpetually incomplete way in which new robotic automation processes seem to be implemented. Many projects are currently deployed in a form that is dependent upon human operators. These hybrid projects expand the realm of possibilities which consumers and workers may accept, which then expands the scope of future robotisation.

Gamification is the way people are induced to participate in certain modes of organisation, primarily through the introduction of incentives that are distributed through algorithms. These incentives, utilising game logic, alter human behaviours in predictable ways.

Acquiescence refers to how human subjects passively accept automation. The authors raise the possibility of labour deskilling as humans subconsciously over-rely on automated systems to do the work for them, thereby increasing the likelihood that human labour can be replaced by robots.

Read the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20438206221121652