Can we have cultural robotics without emotions?

As robots begin to operate in environments hitherto only occupied by humans, it has become common to introduce social and cultural thinking into robotics research. Starting from the conceptualisation of culture as an emergent property of participatory processes of sense-making, in this paper we argue that cultural robotics cannot be achieved without emotions. To defend this thesis, we will first justify our working concepts, then provide our argument along with clarificatory examples. We also point to limitations of the current state-of-the-art in realising an “emotional robot” required in cultural robotics, and finally, set out a roadmap for robotics research into emotion and culture.