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The Words of Robotics addresses how the way we “tell” stories about robots cannot be reduced to a strictly logical discourse, but must involve the rhetorical aspects of “ethos” and “pathos.” The author focuses on the aspect of motion in order to analyze the relation between humans and robots, and show the opportunities and pitfalls of the popularization of academic discourses in using a rhetorical approach to talk about robots. This approach allows one to go beyond the reductionisms of either overstating the abilities and power of the robots or reducing the discourse to a specialized, mere technical language.

How do humans talk about robotics? What are the impacts on the discipline of robotics itself and are there alternatives to think and talk about robots? This thesis provides an interdisciplinary approach for the treatment of natural language in robotics. It combines rhetoric and robotics as well as linguistics and cognitive sciences in order to describe the role of natural language in humans' perception of robots. In the first chapter, the two main disciplines that are associated within this research are presented: the field of robotics is introduced through the notion of movement, while the discipline of rhetoric is described in its technical dimension. We consider the analogy between ancient rhetoric and mechanics and outline the reasons of the association of classical rhetoric and contemporary robotics. With the context set, we move on to the next chapter dedicated to the study of the bond between the perception of motion and the natural language used to describe robots. In order to better understand the role of natural language in the way that humans perceive robots, a cognitive and a linguistic approach of the problematics are presented. Following those considerations, the problem of ambiguity in language appears as an important concern in robotics. Consequently, the nature of the lexicon used to talk about robots is closely examined and the various strategies in use to handle a lexicon of such nature are discussed. Yet, we also note that the relation between moving machines and language is not a problem of the logos on its own (i.e. a matter of lexicon, arguments, etc.). Indeed, we show that, beyond the words used to talk about robots, the discourses about robotics address one's own conception of rationality. We illustrate this statement through a rhetorical experiment conducted at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Paris, 2019).

Suède 2013-2014 Petit Futé (avec cartes, photos + avis des lecteurs) Qui n'a jamais rêvé d'être Nils Holgersson et de parcourir la Suède afin de découvrir ses moindres secrets et charmes ? Des îles à perte de vue. Fjords, forêts, montagnes, mais aussi lacs et villages sans oublier Stockholm où fourmillent touristes et citadins. Voici l'image authentique de la Suède. Une terre où les hommes vivent en totale harmonie avec la nature. Les amateurs des grands espaces vont être ravis : il suffit de quitter les sentiers battus pour entamer des balades inoubliables en raquettes ou en traîneau, en barque ou à pied.

Stockholm 2016 Petit Futé (avec cartes, photos + avis des lecteurs) La capitale suédoise est une perle du Nord, bâtie entre le grand lac Mälaren et un immense archipel qui ouvre sur la mer Baltique. Moderniste et avant-gardiste, historique, éclectique, Stockholm s’étale sur une quinzaine d’îles et reflète ses couleurs pastels sur les eaux mêlées de la Baltique et du Mälaren. Stockholm se prête aux séjours sportifs, aux balades des flâneurs contemplatifs, aux fêtards qui cherchent le frisson des claires nuits d’été ou aux amoureux d’histoire scandinave. C’est une ville de nature et une cité culturelle : les musées et les attractions sont en nombre tel que le visiteur d’un week-end repartira repu de visites et de promenades, mais souvent sans avoir eu le temps, ô malheur, de boucler l’ineffable programme proposé par le Petit Futé.