Human–Robot Interactions and Affective Computing: The Ethical Implications

The field of social robotics is fast developing and will have wide implications especially within health care, where much progress has been made towards the development of “companion robots.” Such robots provide therapeutic or monitoring assistance to patients with a range of disabilities over a long timeframe. Preliminary results show that such robots may be particularly beneficial for use with individuals who suffer from neurodegenerative pathologies. Treatment can be accorded around the clock and with a level of patience rarely found among human healthcare workers. Several elements are requisite for the effective deployment of companion robots. They must be able to detect human emotions and in turn mimic human emotional reactions as well as having an outward appearance that corresponds to human expectations about their caregiving role. This chapter presents laboratory findings on AI-systems that enable robots to recognize specific emotions and to adapt their behavior accordingly. Emotional perception by humans (how language and gestures are interpreted by us to grasp the emotional states of others) is being studied as a guide to programming robots so they can simulate emotions in their interactions with humans.

The diketopiperazine-fused tetrahydro-β-carboline scaffold as a model peptidomimetic with an unusual α-turn secondary structure

Aiming at restricting the conformational freedom of tryptophan-containing peptide ligands, we designed a THBC (tetrahydro-β-carboline)-DKP (diketopiperazine)-based peptidomimetic scaffold capable of arranging in an unusual α-turn conformation. The synthesis is based on a diastereoselective Pictet–Spengler condensation to give the THBC core, followed by an intramolecular lactamization to complete the tetracyclic THBC-DKP fused ring system. The presence of conformers bearing the intramolecular thirteen-membered hydrogen bond that characterizes the α-turn structure is confirmed by 1H NMR conformational studies. To the best of our knowledge, this scaffold represents one of the rare examples of a designed constrained α-turn mimic.