Ethics for social robotics: A critical analysis

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the current ethical approaches to social assistive robotics, highlighting deficiencies and proposing future research directions to better align ethical considerations with human values in healthcare contexts.

Contribution

It provides a critical analysis of prevailing ethical frameworks in social robotics and suggests new research avenues for more comprehensive ethical reflection.

Findings

Current ethical debates are limited and impoverished.

Critical review identifies gaps in ethical considerations.

Proposes future research lines for ethical deepening.

Abstract

Social robotics development for the practice of care and European prospects to incorporate these AI-based systems in institutional healthcare contexts call for an urgent ethical reflection to (re)configurate our practical life according to human values and rights. Despite the growing attention to the ethical implications of social robotics, the current debate on one of its central branches, social assistive robotics (SAR), rests upon an impoverished ethical approach. This paper presents and examines some tendencies of this prevailing approach, which have been identified as a result of a critical literature review. Based on this analysis of a representative case of how ethical reflection is being led towards social robotics, some future research lines are outlined, which may help reframe and deepen in its ethical implications.