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The International Association for the Study of Pain

Ethics of Socially Assistive Robots in Healthcare Settings: Current Trends and Possible Paths

Symposia

Abstract Description

Socially assistive robots can be autonomous as they may interact within the healthcare settings without explicit programming, facilitated by machine learning; these conditions pose a rich context for ethical exploration. Understanding the impact of such systems on society has become ever more crucial. For social robots an important consideration is the ethical and appropriate means of making clear the capabilities of the robot. With the increased awareness of AI, autonomous systems, robotics, or surveillance, the need and wish for more information on the end-user side has also increased. However, often information on is not presented in a user-focused manner. Dr Zeller will present a framework based on key-insights for the implementation of AI-based technology such as social robots in paediatric healthcare settings. The framework is based on an extensive literature review of standards, guidelines, best practice recommendations and state-of-the-art studies related to the fields of AI, social robotics design, and healthcare communication, as well as insights gathered from the needs assessment in conjunction with studies conducted in adjoining fields. The framework represents a mix of theoretical as well as empirical insights and thus forms a novel, integrative approach to ethical design studies in Human-Robot interaction and AI.  

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