Robot Care Ethics Between Autonomy and Vulnerability: Coupling Principles and Practices in Autonomous Systems for Care.

Alberto Pirni,Steven Umbrello,Federica Merenda,Marianna Capasso,Maurizio Balistreri

doi:10.3389/frobt.2021.654298

Alberto Pirni, Steven Umbrello + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.654298

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Abstract

Technological developments involving robotics and artificial intelligence devices are being employed evermore in elderly care and the healthcare sector more generally, raising ethical issues and practical questions warranting closer considerations of what we mean by “care” and, subsequently, how to design such software coherently with the chosen definition. This paper starts by critically examining the existing approaches to the ethical design of care robots provided by Aimee van Wynsberghe, who relies on the work on the ethics of care by Joan Tronto. In doing so, it suggests an alternative to their non-principled approach, an alternative suited to tackling some of the issues raised by Tronto and van Wynsberghe, while allowing for the inclusion of two orientative principles. Our proposal centres on the principles of autonomy and vulnerability, whose joint adoption we deem able to constitute an original revision of a bottom-up approach in care ethics. Conclusively, the ethical framework introduced here integrates more traditional approaches in care ethics in view of enhancing the debate regarding the ethical design of care robots under a new lens.

Highlights

Developments in robotics and automation technologies are rapidly changing many aspects of our lives
Robot Care Ethics- Autonomy & Vulnerability relevant as a theoretical basis for care robot programming, that is when the ultimate goal of philosophical research is to program machines able to interact with human beings in ways that are acceptable from a care ethics perspective
We propose a revision of the bottom-up approach as the most salient starting point for rethinking care ethics as it is applied to robots

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Developments in robotics and automation technologies are rapidly changing many aspects of our lives. Robot Care Ethics- Autonomy & Vulnerability relevant as a theoretical basis for care robot programming, that is when the ultimate goal of philosophical research is to program machines able to interact with human beings in ways that are acceptable from a care ethics perspective To this end, this paper explores the possibility of integrating 1) a care-ethical perspective based on the consideration of particular care relationships, their contextual levels and the importance of needs, emotions and sympathetic modes of deliberation with 2) a principlist approach to care. The practical implications of this approach pave the way for a revision of how care ethics is treated within the domain of engineering and design and subsequently a reimagination of how to translate these types of orientative principles into tangible design requirements This las point is a fundamental point with regards to the “design turn in applied ethics” (van den Hoven et al, 2017) given that the traditional top-down and bottom-up approaches have dominated the field of robotic design. This paper does not delve into this issue, but rather provides the conceptual framework to springboard new discussions in engineering ethics for how to go about designing care robots according to the approach we discuss below

ISSUES AND APPROACHES TO DESIGNING CARE ROBOTS

Artificial Morality and Moral Training

Preliminary Orientative Lines

Methodological Remarks

CONCLUSION