Implementing Ethical, Legal, and Societal Considerations in Wearable Robot Design

Ethical, legal and societal implications (ELSI) in the development of wearable robots (WRs) are currently not explicitly addressed in most guidelines for WR developers. Previous work has identified ELSI related to WRs, e.g., impacts on body and identity, ableism, data protection, control and responsibilities, but translation of these concerns into actionable recommendations remains outstanding. This paper provides practical guidance for the implementation of ELSI in WR design, development and use. First, we identify the need for domain-specific recommendations against the context of current ELSI guidance. We then demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of taking a domain-specific approach by successively transforming currently identified ELSI into an action-guiding flowchart for integration of ELSI specific to the different stages of WR development. This flowchart identifies specific questions to be considered by WR development teams and suggests actions to be taken in response. By tailoring ELSI guidance to WR developers, centring it on user needs, their relation to others and wider society, and being cognizant of existing legislation and values, we hope to help the community develop better WRs that are safer, have greater usability, and which impact positively on society.

[1]  Andreas Matthias,et al.  The responsibility gap: Ascribing responsibility for the actions of learning automata , 2004, Ethics and Information Technology.

[2]  Alan Frank. Winfield,et al.  Ethical standards in robotics and AI , 2019, Nature Electronics.

[3]  Nicholas Vrousalis.  Exploitation: A Primer , 2017 .

[4]  U. Felt.  “Response-able Practices” or “New Bureaucracies of Virtue”: The Challenges of Making RRI Work in Academic Environments , 2017 .

[5]  Philipp Beckerle,et al.  Assessing the Involvement of Users During Development of Lower Limb Wearable Robotic Exoskeletons: A Survey Study , 2020, Hum. Factors.

[6]  Eduard Fosch-Villaronga,et al.  A human in the loop in surgery automation , 2021, Nat. Mach. Intell..

[7]  Chris Holder,et al.  Robotics and law: Key legal and regulatory implications of the robotics age (Part I of II) , 2016, Comput. Law Secur. Rev..

[8]  Shannon Vallor.  Carebots and Caregivers: Sustaining the Ethical Ideal of Care in the Twenty-First Century , 2011, Machine Ethics and Robot Ethics.

[9]  E. Fosch-Villaronga,et al.  Exoskeletons for all: The interplay between exoskeletons, inclusion, gender, and intersectionality , 2020, Paladyn J. Behav. Robotics.

[10]  Ann Cavoukian,et al.  Privacy by design: the definitive workshop. A foreword by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D , 2010 .

[11]  J. Dijk,et al.  Measuring the levels of 21st-century digital skills among professionals working within the creative industries: A performance-based approach , 2020, Poetics.

[12]  Robin Pierce,et al.  Promoting inclusiveness in exoskeleton robotics: Addressing challenges for pediatric access , 2020, Paladyn J. Behav. Robotics.

[13]  J. Stilgoe,et al.  Responsible research and innovation: From science in society to science for society, with society , 2012, Emerging Technologies: Ethics, Law and Governance.

[14]  Eduard Fosch Villaronga,et al.  The Progressive Intertwinement Between Design, Human Needs and the Regulation of Care Technology: The Case of Lower-Limb Exoskeletons , 2019, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[15]  U. Felt,et al.  IMAGINE RRI. A card-based method for reflecting on responsibility in life science research , 2018 .

[16]  Marc Dusseldorp,et al.  Technikfolgen abschätzen lehren – Bildungspotenziale transdisziplinärer Methoden. Zur Einführung , 2012 .

[17]  L. Bissolotti,et al.  Domestic Use of the Exoskeleton for Gait Training in Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries: Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical Practice , 2018, Front. Neurosci..

[18]  Alan Borning,et al.  Value Sensitive Design and Information Systems , 2020, The Ethics of Information Technologies.

[19]  Irene Fassi,et al.  Safety Assessment of Rehabilitation Robots: A Review Identifying Safety Skills and Current Knowledge Gaps , 2021, Frontiers in Robotics and AI.

[20]  M. Nagenborg,et al.  Wearable robotic exoskeletons: A socio-philosophical perspective on Duchenne muscular dystrophy research , 2020, Paladyn J. Behav. Robotics.

[21]  Peter Kazanzides,et al.  Medical robotics—Regulatory, ethical, and legal considerations for increasing levels of autonomy , 2017, Science Robotics.

[22]  Jaap H. Buurke,et al.  Occurrence and Type of Adverse Events During the Use of Stationary Gait Robots—A Systematic Literature Review , 2020, Frontiers in Robotics and AI.

[23]  Jonathon S. Breen.  The exoskeleton generation – disability redux , 2015 .

[24]  Eduard Fosch Villaronga,et al.  A Taxonomy of Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Wearable Robots: An Expert Perspective , 2020, Science and Engineering Ethics.

[25]  Robert Riener,et al.  Control strategies for active lower extremity prosthetics and orthotics: a review , 2015, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[26]  Helen Nissenbaum,et al.  How computer systems embody values , 2001, Computer.

[27]  C. Gastmans,et al.  The use of care robots in aged care: A systematic review of argument-based ethics literature. , 2018, Archives of gerontology and geriatrics.

[28]  Eduard Fosch Villaronga,et al.  "Regulation, I presume?" said the robot - Towards an iterative regulatory process for robot governance , 2018, Comput. Law Secur. Rev..

[29]  Mary L Cummings,et al.  Integrating ethics in design through the value-sensitive design approach , 2006, Science and engineering ethics.

[30]  Dov Greenbaum,et al.  Ethical, legal and social concerns relating to exoskeletons , 2016, SIGCAS Comput. Soc..

[31]  W. Barfield,et al.  Cyborgs and Enhancement Technology , 2017 .

[32]  L. Floridi.  Faultless responsibility: on the nature and allocation of moral responsibility for distributed moral actions , 2016, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[33]  Pericle Salvini,et al.  RoboLaw: Towards a European framework for robotics regulation , 2016, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[34]  Margus Pedaste,et al.  Definitions and Conceptual Dimensions of Responsible Research and Innovation: A Literature Review , 2017, Sci. Eng. Ethics.

[35]  Petros Stefaneas,et al.  ExosCE: A legal-based computational system for compliance with exoskeletons’ CE marking , 2020 .