Semiotic design of human-machine systems: Paradigm shift from design for manufacture to design for nurture

In this talk, an overview of the project is introduced that is fully supported by a Grant-in-Aid Creative Scientific Research 2007–2011 funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In this project, we focus on the design issues of the mutual and inseparable relationships between the external environment and the internal of the agent that is an actor, an observer, a cognizer, and an interpreter. For this purpose, we introduce the subject of “semiosis”, which is any form of activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, including the production of meaning. By mingling technologies with semiotics, we jointly approach to the common design issues varying from how organisms make predictions about, and adapt to, their semiotic niche in the world, and to an aspect of the wider systems including architects, embodied robots, product innovation and human-machine and/or human social interactions. Semiotic technology offers us an indispensable tool for the creation of a truly sustainable society and human-oriented technology, and our project enables a paradigm shift from conventional “design for manufacture” to novel “design for nurture”.