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

Socio 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.

Gender and Humanoid Robots: A Somaesthetic Analysis

I discuss in this paper how robotic scientists tend to produce replicas of human bodies that are consistent with their own cultural norms by exploring how gender is embodied in humanoid robots. My focus is specifically on care robots, and their reception in the African context. I argue that since the bodies of the robotic scientists are the reference points according to which they design and manufacture robots, a somaesthetics of robotics can best reveal and challenge how gendered norms are materialised in these machines.

Positive Turn in Elder-Care Workers’ Views Toward Telecare Robots

Robots have been slowly but steadily introduced to welfare sectors. Our previous observations based on a large-scale survey study on Finnish elder-care workers in 2016 showed that while robots were perceived to be useful in certain telecare tasks, using robots may also prove to be incompatible with the care workers’ personal values. The current study presents the second wave of the survey data from 2020, with the same respondents (N = 190), and shows how these views have changed for the positive, including higher expectations of telecare robotization and decreased concerns over care robots’ compatibility with personal values. In a longitudinal analysis (Phase 1), the positive change in views toward telecare robots was found to be influenced by the care robots’ higher value compatibility. In an additional cross-sectional analysis (Phase 2), focusing on the factors underlying personal values, care robots’ value compatibility was associated with social norms toward care robots, the threat of technological unemployment, and COVID-19 stress. The significance of social norms in robot acceptance came down to more universal ethical standards of care work rather than shared norms in the workplace. COVID-19 stress did not explain the temporal changes in views about robot use in care but had a role in assessments of the compatibility between personal values and care robot use. In conclusion, for care workers to see potential in care robots, the new technology must support ethical standards of care work, such as respectfulness, compassion, and trustworthiness of the nurse–patient interaction. In robotizing care work, personal values are significant predictors of the task values.

The Cybersecurity and the Care Robots: A Viewpoint on the Open Problems and the Perspectives

Care robots represent an opportunity for the health domain. The use of these robots has important implications. They can be used in surgery, rehabilitation, assistance, therapy, and other medical fields. Therefore, care robots (CR)s, have both important physical and psychological implications during their use. Furthermore, these devices, meet important data in clinical applications. These data must be protected. Therefore, cybersecurity (CS) has become a crucial characteristic that concerns all the involved actors. The study investigated the collocation of CRs in the context of CS studies in the health domain. Problems and peculiarities of these devices, with reference to the CS, were faced, investigating in different scientific databases. Highlights, ranging also from ethics implications up to the regulatory legal framework (ensuring safety and cybersecurity) have been reported. Models and cyber-attacks applicable on the CRs have been identified.

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

"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. "

Development and Dissemination of Nursing Robots and Support Systems for Welfare Sites

The Japanese population is rapidly aging, with fewer proportion of children, and its production-age population has decreased correspondingly, with a resulting shortage in nursing-care service providers. To cope with this situation, the Japanese government has focused on developing and deploying nursing-care robots to compensate for the shortage of human resources. As most nursing-care services are intended for the elderly and disabled, they are traditionally considered as human services. To implement nursing-care robots on a large scale, numerous approaches and measures have been considered, such as modeling the approaches to effectively use nursing-care robots in nursing-care fields, rewarding highly useful nursing-care robots with greater nursing-care compensations, and responding to consultations at nursing-care sites by building a platform to develop, demonstrate, and deploy nursing-care robots. However, nursing-care services using robots are still not popular because of prevailing anxieties about and resistance to such technologies; therefore, the promotion of nursing-care services using robot technologies remains a challenge. Presently, a system capable of supporting not only a single nursing-care scenario but also a series of nursing-care operations is highly desired. In the future, nursing-care services have to be made more rewarding using robots, for which it is vitally important to provide support in the form of evidence-based, scientific, and effective nursing-care services.

Development of a Care Robot Based on Needs Survey

Expectations for care robots are increasing owing to the aging of society with a declining birthrate and shortage of manpower in the care field. However, the use of care robots has not yet become widespread. In this study, we explained the artificial intelligence (AI) technology to care staff and conducted a questionnaire survey to understand their needs. Then, we began to develop a care robot that was required in the care field. In this paper, we report an overview and the current status of the study.