Chihyung Jeon and Heesun Shin

Hug Me Tight: A Robot Story

Thu 6 November 2025

Alison Richard Building

About the film:

In South Korea, thousands of older adults are living with Hyodol, a doll-shaped robot with electronic sensors and communication modules. Following the journey of Hyodol from its production to use, Hug Me Tight: A Robot Story (61 minutes) shows how the meaning of care is changing in the age of robots. Featuring members of the robot company, care workers who bring the robots to users, and older adults who interact with the robots daily, the film asks important questions for our age: Can robots take care of older adults? Can older adults take care of the robot? How should we take care of each other?

‘Hug Me Tight: A Robot Story’ is produced by Chihyung Jeon and Heesun Shin with support from the National Research Foundation of South Korea.

About the producers:

Chihyung Jeon is an Associate Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). His academic training is in STS (science, technology & society) with a focus on historical and anthropological analyses of human dimensions of technology.

Jeon conducts research on the relationship between humans and technologies within social and cultural contexts, examining various policy issues that arise from specific human-technology-society configurations. He is interested in the feelings of control, empowerment, intimacy, anxiety, and loneliness that humans have in front of machines. In 2024, he produced (with Heesun Shin) a documentary film on the use of eldercare robots in South Korea (Hug Me Tight: A Robot Story). He is now working on another documentary film, tentatively titled “Carbon Counters.” Jeon has served as a council member of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and is currently serving as the president of the Korean Association of STS. He is also the founding editor-in-chief of the Korean science-society magazine.

Heesun Shin is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Her research explores the cultures and politics of robotics and human–robot interaction from a science and technology studies (STS) perspective. Drawing on ethnography, her dissertation examines how efforts to situate robots within public welfare settings reconfigure the meanings, practices, and relations of eldercare in South Korea.

An event organised by the 'Precarious Aging Network' at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH).

Cost: free