Abstract
The extension of the sense of self to the avatar during experiences of avatar embodiment requires thorough ethical and legal consideration, especially in light of potential scenarios involving physical or psychological harm caused to, or by, embodied avatars. We provide researchers and developers working in the field of virtual and robot embodiment technologies with a self-guidance tool based on the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This tool will help them engage in ethical and responsible research and innovation in the area of embodiment technologies in a way that guarantees all the rights of the embodied users and their interactors, including safety, privacy, autonomy, and dignity.
Highlights
For some time there has been an increasing interest in the development of technologies that can couple the human body to a computer interface (Biocca, 1997)
Technology has evolved to the point where it is possible to induce the illusion of embodiment (Madary and Metzinger, 2016) in a virtual (e.g., Slater et al, 2010) or a robotic avatar (e.g., Aymerich-Franch et al, 2017)
The tool that we propose contributes to materialize the principles of Research and Innovation (RRI) in the specific context of research and development of embodiment technologies to overcome this problem
Summary
There has been an increasing interest in the development of technologies that can couple the human body to a computer interface (Biocca, 1997). An extensive body of work in the area of virtual reality and social robots has repeatedly demonstrated that, when people embody a virtual or a robotic avatar, they experience body ownership over the body of that avatar (e.g., Slater et al, 2009; Aymerich-Franch et al, 2017) and self-location within its bodily boundaries (e.g., Lenggenhager et al, 2007; Slater et al, 2009). During embodiment experiences, users experience the illusion that “what is apparently happening is really happening” (Slater, 2009). They respond to virtual agents, avatars (Garau et al, 2005), and threats (Slater et al, 2010) as if they were real. The extension of the sense of self to the avatar during embodiment experiences (Aymerich-Franch, 2018) is a critical aspect that requires special ethical and legal consideration, principally, in light of potential scenarios involving physical or psychological harm caused to, or by, embodied avatars (Aymerich-Franch and Fosch-Villaronga, 2019; Aymerich-Franch et al, 2019)
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