Human–Robot Interactions and Affective Computing: The Ethical Implications

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Abstract
The field of social robotics is fast developing and will have wide implications especially within health care, where much progress has been made towards the development of “companion robots.” Such robots provide therapeutic or monitoring assistance to patients with a range of disabilities over a long timeframe. Preliminary results show that such robots may be particularly beneficial for use with individuals who suffer from neurodegenerative pathologies. Treatment can be accorded around the clock and with a level of patience rarely found among human healthcare workers. Several elements are requisite for the effective deployment of companion robots. They must be able to detect human emotions and in turn mimic human emotional reactions as well as having an outward appearance that corresponds to human expectations about their caregiving role. This chapter presents laboratory findings on AI-systems that enable robots to recognize specific emotions and to adapt their behavior accordingly. Emotional perception by humans (how language and gestures are interpreted by us to grasp the emotional states of others) is being studied as a guide to programming robots so they can simulate emotions in their interactions with humans.