Stereotyping of Social Robots in Eldercare: An Explorative Analysis of Ethical Problems and Possible Solutions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merle Weßel ◽  
Niklas Ellerich-Groppe ◽  
Mark Schweda
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Care Processes ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
Demographic Aging ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Late Modern

Due to demographic aging, the relevance of social robots in eldercare is increasing. Studies indicate that gender stereotypes can play an important role in human-robot interaction and could be used strategically to optimize care processes and outcomes. However, as gender roles among older people become more diverse and societal recognition of different needs and preferences grows, such stereotypical notions appear increasingly problematic. Against this backdrop, our contribution provides an explorative ethical analysis of gender stereotyping in social robotics for eldercare. Starting from a principlist approach, we map potential problems and conflicts and discuss possible solutions for culturally sustainable social robots for eldercare in late-modern pluralistic societies.

scholarly journals Gender Stereotyping of Robotic Systems in Eldercare: An Exploratory Analysis of Ethical Problems and Possible Solutions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merle Weßel ◽  
Niklas Ellerich-Groppe ◽  
Mark Schweda
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Care Robots ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
Leading Question ◽  
Care And Justice

AbstractSocio psychological studies show that gender stereotypes play an important role in human-robot interaction. However, they may have various morally problematic implications and consequences that need ethical consideration, especially in a sensitive field like eldercare. Against this backdrop, we conduct an exploratory ethical analysis of moral issues of gender stereotyping in robotics for eldercare. The leading question is what moral problems and conflicts can arise from gender stereotypes in care robots for older people and how we should deal with them. We first provide an overview on the state of empirical research regarding gender stereotyping in human-robot interaction and the special field of care robotics for older people. Starting from a principlist approach, we then map possible moral problems and conflicts with regard to common ethical principles of autonomy, care, and justice. We subsequently consider possible solutions for the development and implementation of morally acceptable robots for eldercare, focusing on three different strategies: explanation, neutralization, and queering of care robots. Finally, we discuss potentials and problems associated with these three strategies and conclude that especially the queering of robotics and the idea of a gender-fluid robot offers an innovative outlook that deserves closer ethical, social, and technological examination.

Stereotyping in Robotic Care: An Ethical Analysis of Vulnerabilities Among Older People in Digitalized Care Settings

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 72-72
Author(s):  
Niklas Ellerich-Groppe ◽  
◽  
Merle Weßel ◽  
Mark Schweda ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Robotic Systems ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Care Robots ◽  
Demographic Aging

"In light of demographic aging, the change of familial care arrangements, and the lack of skilled caretakers, robotic systems are increasingly discussed as a possible solution for eldercare. Sociopsychological research indicates that the ensuing human-robot interaction involves the same social categories as human-human interaction, e.g., gender, age and ethnicity. Indeed, these categories and related stereotypical markers are even strategically used in technology development to increase the acceptance and efficiency of robotic systems. Especially in vulnerable groups such as older people, however, such stereotyping strategies can be a reason for new vulnerabilities in digitalized care settings and cause serious moral problems that need critical reflection. In our contribution, we provide a systematic ethical analysis of stereotyping in robotic eldercare. Starting from the conceptual distinction between agency-based and harm-based conceptions of vulnerability, we explore potential moral issues and conflicts in the implementation of stereotypical care robots for older people and detect particularly serious challenges regarding users’ autonomy and wellbeing. Against this backdrop, we propose and discuss possible solutions like the explanation, neutralization or queering of care robots. Thus, we contribute to the theoretical conceptualization of older people’s vulnerabilities in increasingly digitalized care settings and draw conclusions for ethically sensitive technology development in eldercare. "

scholarly journals Human-Robot Handshaking: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vignesh Prasad ◽  
Ruth Stock-Homburg ◽  
Jan Peters
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Natural Interaction ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Verbal Behaviour ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Physical Touch

AbstractFor some years now, the use of social, anthropomorphic robots in various situations has been on the rise. These are robots developed to interact with humans and are equipped with corresponding extremities. They already support human users in various industries, such as retail, gastronomy, hotels, education and healthcare. During such Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) scenarios, physical touch plays a central role in the various applications of social robots as interactive non-verbal behaviour is a key factor in making the interaction more natural. Shaking hands is a simple, natural interaction used commonly in many social contexts and is seen as a symbol of greeting, farewell and congratulations. In this paper, we take a look at the existing state of Human-Robot Handshaking research, categorise the works based on their focus areas, draw out the major findings of these areas while analysing their pitfalls. We mainly see that some form of synchronisation exists during the different phases of the interaction. In addition to this, we also find that additional factors like gaze, voice facial expressions etc. can affect the perception of a robotic handshake and that internal factors like personality and mood can affect the way in which handshaking behaviours are executed by humans. Based on the findings and insights, we finally discuss possible ways forward for research on such physically interactive behaviours.

scholarly journals Survey of Emotions in Human–Robot Interactions: Perspectives from Robotic Psychology on 20 Years of Research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Stock-Homburg
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Artificial Emotions ◽  
Art Research ◽  
Research Domain

AbstractKnowledge production within the interdisciplinary field of human–robot interaction (HRI) with social robots has accelerated, despite the continued fragmentation of the research domain. Together, these features make it hard to remain at the forefront of research or assess the collective evidence pertaining to specific areas, such as the role of emotions in HRI. This systematic review of state-of-the-art research into humans’ recognition and responses to artificial emotions of social robots during HRI encompasses the years 2000–2020. In accordance with a stimulus–organism–response framework, the review advances robotic psychology by revealing current knowledge about (1) the generation of artificial robotic emotions (stimulus), (2) human recognition of robotic artificial emotions (organism), and (3) human responses to robotic emotions (response), as well as (4) other contingencies that affect emotions as moderators.

scholarly journals Can communication with social robots influence how children develop empathy? Best-evidence synthesis

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Pashevich
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Development ◽  
Evidence Synthesis ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Emotional Engagement ◽  
Social And Emotional Development ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Best Evidence Synthesis ◽  
Negative Effect

AbstractSocial robots are gradually entering children’s lives in a period when children learn about social relationships and exercise prosocial behaviors with parents, peers, and teachers. Designed for long-term emotional engagement and to take the roles of friends, teachers, and babysitters, such robots have the potential to influence how children develop empathy. This article presents a review of the literature (2010–2020) in the fields of human–robot interaction (HRI), psychology, neuropsychology, and roboethics, discussing the potential impact of communication with social robots on children’s social and emotional development. The critical analysis of evidence behind these discussions shows that, although robots theoretically have high chances of influencing the development of empathy in children, depending on their design, intensity, and context of use, there is no certainty about the kind of effect they might have. Most of the analyzed studies, which showed the ability of robots to improve empathy levels in children, were not longitudinal, while the studies observing and arguing for the negative effect of robots on children’s empathy were either purely theoretical or dependent on the specific design of the robot and the situation. Therefore, there is a need for studies investigating the effects on children’s social and emotional development of long-term regular and consistent communication with robots of various designs and in different situations.

When Interdependence Shapes Social Perception: Cooperation and Competition Moderate Implicit Gender Stereotyping

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soledad de Lemus ◽  
Marcin Bukowski
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Person Perception ◽  
Compensation Effect ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Mathematical Abilities ◽  
Content Model ◽  
Stereotype Content ◽  
Competition Condition ◽  
Relative Activation ◽  
High Competence

AbstractWe examined the influence of interdependence goals on the accessibility of implicit gender stereotypical associations. Participants were asked to cooperate with or compete against a woman on a mathematical abilities task and subsequently the relative activation of positive and negative warmth and competence traits was measured using a primed categorization task. Results showed that female primes (vs. male primes) facilitated the activation of low warmth and high competence in the competition condition, whereas high warmth was activated in the cooperation condition and no differences were found for competence traits. These results are discussed referring to the stereotype content model and the compensation effect in person perception. The goal dependent nature of implicit gender stereotypes is emphasized.

Gender stereotyping and self-stereotyping among Danish managers

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Smith ◽  
Tor Eriksson ◽  
Valdemar Smith
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Gender Stereotyping ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Female Managers ◽  
Female Ceos ◽  
Job Levels ◽  
Large Survey ◽  
Managerial Employees

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how gender stereotypes and self-stereotypes of Danish managers vary among managers at different job levels, from lower level managers to CEO level, in a large survey of Danish private-sector managers. Design/methodology/approach This study is explorative. Measures of stereotypes and self-stereotypes are constructed and analyzed with regressions models that control for a large number of individual and firm characteristics. Findings The results document significant gender differences in stereotyping among managers. Male managers have significantly more masculine stereotypes of successful leaders, and they rate themselves higher on masculine traits than female managers. For CEOs, the picture is different. Stereotypes do not differ by gender and female CEOs have more pronounced masculine stereotypes than female managers at lower levels. Female managers at the age of 50 are the least gender stereotyping managers. Younger female managers have significantly more masculine stereotypes about the role as a successful leader. Research limitations/implications This study is based on cross-sectional data and does not claim to uncover causal relationships. Practical implications The results suggest that gender stereotypes and self-stereotypes among Danish private-sector managers are not going to change quickly indicating that new government policies with more focus on gender equalization and affirmative actions are called for. Originality/value Most earlier studies of stereotypes concerning female managers are based on studies of samples drawn from the general population or consisting of students. This study makes use of a large sample of managerial employees from all levels of the corporate hierarchy in different types of firms.

scholarly journals Natural language generation for social robotics: opportunities and challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1771) ◽  
pp. 20180027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ellen Foster
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Natural Language Generation ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Social Robotics ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Verbal Expression ◽  
Language Generation ◽  
Face To Face

In the increasingly popular and diverse research area of social robotics, the primary goal is to develop robot agents that exhibit socially intelligent behaviour while interacting in a face-to-face context with human partners. An important aspect of face-to-face social conversation is fluent, flexible linguistic interaction; face-to-face dialogue is both the basic form of human communication and the richest and most flexible, combining unrestricted verbal expression with meaningful non-verbal acts such as gestures and facial displays, along with instantaneous, continuous collaboration between the speaker and the listener. In practice, however, most developers of social robots tend not to use the full possibilities of the unrestricted verbal expression afforded by face-to-face conversation; instead, they generally tend to employ relatively simplistic processes for choosing the words for their robots to say. This contrasts with the work carried out Natural Language Generation (NLG), the field of computational linguistics devoted to the automated production of high-quality linguistic content; while this research area is also an active one, in general most effort in NLG is focused on producing high-quality written text. This article summarizes the state of the art in the two individual research areas of social robotics and natural language generation. It then discusses the reasons why so few current social robots make use of more sophisticated generation techniques. Finally, an approach is proposed to bringing some aspects of NLG into social robotics, concentrating on techniques and tools that are most appropriate to the needs of socially interactive robots. This article is part of the theme issue ‘From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human–robot interaction’.

Affective Goal and Task Selection for Social Robots

2009 ◽  
pp. 74-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Scheutz ◽  
Paul Schermerhorn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Task Selection ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Selection Of

Effective decision-making under real-world conditions can be very difficult as purely rational methods of decision-making are often not feasible or applicable. Psychologists have long hypothesized that humans are able to cope with time and resource limitations by employing affective evaluations rather than rational ones. In this chapter, we present the distributed integrated affect cognition and reflection architecture DIARC for social robots intended for natural human-robot interaction and demonstrate the utility of its human-inspired affect mechanisms for the selection of tasks and goals. Specifically, we show that DIARC incorporates affect mechanisms throughout the architecture, which are based on “evaluation signals” generated in each architectural component to obtain quick and efficient estimates of the state of the component, and illustrate the operation and utility of these mechanisms with examples from human-robot interaction experiments.

Special Issue on Human-Robot Interaction in Close Distance

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-7
Author(s):  
Masahiro Shiomi ◽  
Hidenobu Sumioka ◽  
Hiroshi Ishiguro
Keyword(s):  
Physical Distance ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Industrial Robots ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Behavior Design ◽  
Physical Interactions ◽  
Close Distance

As social robot research is advancing, the interaction distance between people and robots is decreasing. Indeed, although we were once required to maintain a certain physical distance from traditional industrial robots for safety, we can now interact with social robots in such a close distance that we can touch them. The physical existence of social robots will be essential to realize natural and acceptable interactions with people in daily environments. Because social robots function in our daily environments, we must design scenarios where robots interact closely with humans by considering various viewpoints. Interactions that involve touching robots influence the changes in the behavior of a person strongly. Therefore, robotics researchers and developers need to design such scenarios carefully. Based on these considerations, this special issue focuses on close human-robot interactions. This special issue on “Human-Robot Interaction in Close Distance” includes a review paper and 11 other interesting papers covering various topics such as social touch interactions, non-verbal behavior design for touch interactions, child-robot interactions including physical contact, conversations with physical interactions, motion copying systems, and mobile human-robot interactions. We thank all the authors and reviewers of the papers and hope this special issue will help readers better understand human-robot interaction in close distance.

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