# Episode 61: Culturally sensitive robots - Masoumeh (Iran) Mansouri

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2023-11-10
- Length: 30m
- Episode: 61
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-sixty-one-masoumeh-mansouri

## Summary

Masoumeh (Iran) Mansouri, an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, discusses the challenges of creating culturally sensitive social robots and hybrid planning methods for unstructured environments. She critiques the dominant use of Hofstede’s model, which reduces culture to nationality, arguing instead for a framework that considers specific task contexts like factory collaboration or museum tours. Mansouri also explains hybrid planning, which combines task, motion, and temporal reasoning to handle dynamic obstacles and uncertainties in shared human-robot spaces.

## Chapters

- [0:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri#t=8) Introduction: Masoumeh (Iran) Mansouri and University of Birmingham
- [2:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri#t=131) The Ambiguity of Culture and Critique of Hofstede’s Model
- [9:27](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri#t=567) Context-Specific Cultural Frameworks for Robots
- [18:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri#t=1089) Hybrid Planning: Task, Motion, and Time Reasoning
- [25:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-11-10-episode-61-culturally-sensitive-robots-masoumeh-iran-mansouri#t=1509) Handling Uncertainty and Anomalies in Unstructured Environments

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- University of Birmingham (company)
- Hofstede’s model (other)
- Robot Talk (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Interview: Roboticist Ayanna Howard | Memories May Be Beautiful, And Yet | Math & Neptune](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2020-09-25-interview-roboticist-ayanna-howard-memories-may-be-beautiful-and-yet-math-neptun) (EE Times Current)
- [Beyond Manufacturing: AI-Powered Robotics and the Long Tail of Commercial Innovation](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2025-08-15-beyond-manufacturing-ai-powered-robotics-and-the-long-tail-of-commercial-innovat) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [375: Hiding in Your Roomba](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-06-03-375-hiding-in-your-roomba) (Embedded.fm)
- [Funding the next wave of robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2024-12-06-funding-the-next-wave-of-robotics) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Six Facilities, Three Countries, One Culture w/ Darragh de Stonndún](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2026-08-11-six-facilities-three-countries-one-culture-w-darragh-de-stonndun) (The Manufacturing Executive)

## Citing this page

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