Marjo Rauhala

User Acceptance of a Mobile LED Projector on a Socially Assistive Robot

A prototype of a LED projector module mounted on and carried by the humanoid robot NAO was iteratively developed in the KSERA project. It offers an additional visual information channel for the users (text, graphic, and video) by being able to come to the user where ever they are. Several mock ups were built to explore advantages and challenges of the mobile projector solution. Ten users, comprising six older persons and four experts from the care domain participated in laboratory tests to explore the user acceptance and expected usefulness. The novel projector solution was also compared with already existing solutions such as stationary screens. It could be shown that the novel solution of the mobile projector was well accepted bringing added value from the points of view of older persons as well as care experts. Challenges remain regarding suitable surfaces needed for projection and the currently limited brightness.

The Ethical Risk of Attachment: How to Identify, Investigate and Predict Potential Ethical Risks in the Development of Social Companion Robots

In this paper we present the Triple-A Model intended as a framework for researchers and developers to incorporate ethics in the user-and robot-centered design of social companion robots. The purpose of the model is to help identifying potential ethical risks in the implementation of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) scenarios. We base our model on three interaction levels, which companion robots can offer: Assistance, Adaptation, and Attachment (Triple-A). Every single interaction level has its specific potential ethical risks, which can be addressed during the robot development phase. However, we especially focus on the prominent ethical risks of long-term human-robot attachment and its implications on human-robot relationships. We discuss the practical use and the theoretical foundation of the Triple-A model which is well-grounded in the social role theory from sociology and the human cognitive-mnestic structure from cognitive science.

Ethical and Legal Aspects of an AAL System Supporting Night Care in Residential Care

This paper builds on the experiences made with regard to ethical and socio-legal issues in already completed and on-going AAL projects and presents the plan for integrating ethical and legal dimensions into an upcoming field trial in two residential care facilities in Austria. We describe the SignAAL project and its evaluation plan, identify the typical ethical and legal dimensions that must be taken into account in planning long-term field trials with potentially vulnerable users, and introduce methods for integrating ethical and socio-legal frameworks in the project’s approach to evaluation and field trials. Research work that relies on prototypes raises somewhat different ethical and legal concerns than the commercial adoption of available AAL products/systems/services, therefore this contribution deliberately limits its focus to the evaluation of a prototype system in a field trial in a real-life setting. The context is night care in residential care facilities for older people and older people with dementia.