Shuhong is a PhD candidate in Section of Ethics and Philosophy of Technology at TU Delft in the Netherlands. She completed a master’s in Philosophy of Science and Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. Her research interests are design for values and robot ethics. Her PhD project focuses on design for dignity in elderly care through care robots.
Aimee is Associate Professor of Ethics and Robots at TU Delft. Her research centres on the topics of care ethics, robot ethics, responsible robotics, and values in design. Her previous studies explored the use of care ethics in the design space of care robots and the ethical issues related to service robots. She also works on the topic of robots in humanitarian contexts and robots for the protection of the environment, as well as translating robot ethics into policy recommendations.
Sabine is Professor of Ethics at TU Delft. Her research covers theoretical, foundational topics concerning the nature of moral knowledge, intuitions, emotions, art and evaluative aspects of risk, but also urgent and hotly debated public issues on which her theoretical research can shed new light, such as nuclear energy, climate change and public health issues.
The Complexity of Autonomy: A Consideration of the Impacts of Care Robots on the Autonomy of Elderly Care Receivers
Elderly care receivers are extensively and profoundly affected by interacting with care robots. This paper focuses on autonomy as a core value in elderly care and demonstrates its complexity. Few studies have been able to address this complexity in elderly care in the robot era. Therefore, a taxonomy of autonomy is introduced to illustrate the complexity and is employed as a tool to evaluate ethical aspects of the effects of care robots on autonomy in elderly care. It concludes that this taxonomy is instrumental for impact assessments of care robots on care receivers’ autonomy both retrospectively and prospectively. |
