Assistive robotics is the branch of robotics that aims to contribute to the care and assistance of people. Applied ethics has analyzed the problems raised by these new technological advances from different perspectives. Among them, the ethics of care has consolidated as a particularly fertile theoretical framework for detecting the ethical implications of using robots in sensitive environments such as homes or hospitals. Following an ethics of care framework, autonomy is one of the ethical criteria of good care. However, autonomy is a philosophically complex, much-discussed notion. Since any assistive robot would function in a care scenario in coordination with other (human) agents, autonomy in care should be understood in a relational, interactive way. For this reason, ethics of care can rely on the concept of relational autonomy to develop an acceptable understanding of autonomy in human-assistive robotics interaction. In this chapter, I will argue that ethics of care and its relational autonomy framework are key for (i) strengthening and improving the human–robot team coordination in care spaces and (ii) ensuring respect and promotion of autonomy of every user of assistive robotics.

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Ethics of Care, Relational Autonomy, and Assistive Robots

  • Belén Liedo

摘要

Assistive robotics is the branch of robotics that aims to contribute to the care and assistance of people. Applied ethics has analyzed the problems raised by these new technological advances from different perspectives. Among them, the ethics of care has consolidated as a particularly fertile theoretical framework for detecting the ethical implications of using robots in sensitive environments such as homes or hospitals. Following an ethics of care framework, autonomy is one of the ethical criteria of good care. However, autonomy is a philosophically complex, much-discussed notion. Since any assistive robot would function in a care scenario in coordination with other (human) agents, autonomy in care should be understood in a relational, interactive way. For this reason, ethics of care can rely on the concept of relational autonomy to develop an acceptable understanding of autonomy in human-assistive robotics interaction. In this chapter, I will argue that ethics of care and its relational autonomy framework are key for (i) strengthening and improving the human–robot team coordination in care spaces and (ii) ensuring respect and promotion of autonomy of every user of assistive robotics.