Technology, including robotics, and culture are intertwined and even mutually constitutive processes. Both technology and culture operate on many levels that are categorized for the purposes of this workshop as global, local, and ‘glocal.’ As evident in popular and scholarly media, robots made in Japan are often described as inseparably bound to Japanese culture whereas robots made in Europe or the United States are treated as if immune from local/cultural influences and priorities. Our workshop will problematize and fine-tune the category of ‘Japanese robots’ by exploring robots designed and manufactured in Japan AND deployed in local, global, and ‘glocal’ contexts and environments. In addition to providing empirical information on new directions and applications in robotics, a key objective of the workshop is the development of a method of researching and representing robots and robotics that is attentive and sensitive to both the intersections and divergences of local and global, and ‘glocal,’ applications.