101tAking CAre oF our PArents
home that propels many elderly people to opt for domotics, there
is a risk that this could be an “adaptive preference” (Zwijsen etal.,
2011, p. 424).
3.3 From Home Robotics to Robots in the Home
3.3.1 Increasing the Pace of the Paradigmatic Shift in Care
A new development within domotics which could increase the pace
of the paradigmatic shift is the care robot, since robots can use their
ability to move, and can perform physical tasks to support elderly
people, in contrast to ambient intelligence, which is an embedded
technology. Whereas ambient intelligence reshapes the role of care-
givers so that the caregiver was in-the-loop, the use of care robots
may create the nightmare scenario of a completely robotized care,
in which human caregivers are cut out-of-the-loop. is scenario
remains bleak for the time being, but the deployment of care robots
evokes a lot of ethical questions, which we will discuss in the next
subsection and Section 3.4.
A development such as the Japanese lifting robot RIBA II (see
Box3.2) has brought the use of care robots a step closer. is robot
supports human caregivers in lifting their clients. Apart from robots
that support caregivers, there are already robots that allow people to
live longer independently at home. Possible functions of this robot are
keeping a calendar and shopping lists, playing music, remembering to
take medication or keep appointments, and give a warning when the
gas is left on or a window is left open.
In recent years, many initiatives have been started in Europe to
integrate robots into domotics.
Some large projects in which the development of care robots
played a major role were Mobiserv, CompanionAble, KSERA, and
HOBBIT (see Box 3.3). A special quality of these European projects
was that both the needs and the acceptance of users lead within the
development of this technology and not vice versa. Much attention
was focused on the interaction between human beings and robots and
on the acceptance of robots by senior citizens. In all these projects,
a user-centered design approach, in which models and guidelines
are used as fundamentals to build from users’ expectations instead
of technology’s capabilities, was adopted. e literature stresses that
102 Just ordinAry robots
BOX 3.2 RIBA II: THE WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT
THAT CAN LIFT UP A HUMAN IN ITS ARMS
e Japanese companies RIKEN and Tokai Rubber Industries
(TRI), in their collaborative project RIKEN-TRI Collaboration
Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research, have developed
the lifting robot RIBA II (see Figure 3.1).* RIBA stands for
“Robot for Interactive Body Assistance.” is robot can lift
people who weigh up to 80 kilograms (or 175 lb), if and when
guided by a caregiver. RIBA II looks like a huge teddy bear
on wheels, with two arms that can reach almost to ground
level. e arms and hands of RIBA II contain 218 haptic sen-
sors. ey register anything the robot touches and must be
controlled by a supervisor when lifting the patient. When the
supervisor pushes the arm—toward the right, for example—
the robot will respond to this. RIBA II requires the supervi-
sion of an attendant in order to optimally position the patient
so that the robot can easily start lifting. e legs of the patient
must be positioned in the right way, and the attendant’s help
is also needed to position the patient’s back before lifting, so
that the robot can start lifting the patient properly. RIBA II
is covered with soft materials, so that the interaction between
humans and robots is not only safe but also comfortable for
*
www.riken.go.jp/engn/r-world/info/release/press/2011/110802_2/index.html.
Figure 3.1 RIBA II. (Photo courtesy of Sumitomo Riko.)
103tAking CAre oF our PArents
for successful innovation of health care systems people should not
be regarded as passive users but as active co-creators (Meulendijk
etal., 2011).
Although robots still take the shape of clumsy behemoths with
metallic voices, the dream of developers is to build multifunctional
robots that are able to respond to emotions and will show emotions
themselves. Developers wish to create a robot that can help people
and keep them company. Both at universities and in industry, spe-
cialists are working on the realization of the robot as the caregiver of
the future. Despite all of this, during the next 10years care support
robots may not yet widely enter the eld of care, due to the complex-
ity of the care tasks. For a mobile robot, even the most fundamental
abilities, such as localization (the identication of its current position
in the environment) and safe navigation (the planning of trajecto-
ries which involve smooth curves and maximize the distance from
obstacles), appear very dicult to deal with (Cesta & Pecora, 2005).
the patient. e appearance of the robot, a teddy bear, should
also contribute to the ease of the patient. e eyes of RIBA
II are functional by way of a digital camera. In addition, the
lifting robot is equipped with two microphones, enabling
RIBA II to record sound. us, through cameras and micro-
phones, RIBA II can detect people: the robot hears where a
sound is coming from and thus perceives the person as being
in a given position. When the supervisor is standing within
the eld of view of the cameras, RIBA II determines the dis-
tance to the attendant and can roll toward the attendant.*
With this robot, RIKEN intends to support care sta in
one of the most dicult and demanding health care jobs: lift-
ing people. According to RIKEN, caregivers lift patients about
40times a day. RIBA II takes over this strenuous job. is robot
can move people from a bed into a wheelchair or lift them o the
ground and into a bed. It is a prototype and not yet commercially
available. RIKEN is striving to ensure that in future this robot
can be used in nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes.
*
http://rtc.nagoya.riken.jp/RIBA/index-e.html.
104 Just ordinAry robots
BOX 3.3 FOUR CARE ROBOT PROJECTS
Mobiserv (An Integrated Intelligent Home Environment for the
Provision of Health, Nutrition and Mobility Services to the Elderly)
(FP7 Project, 2009–2012)*
e social purpose of this project is to develop a personal robot that
serves to support senior citizens during their normal daily activities
within their homes. Here, the emphasis is on supporting personal
health care and increasing independence and quality of life.
CompanionAble (FP7 Project, 2008–2011)
†
is project supports senior citizens suering from mild memory
problems and aims to help them to continue living independently
at home for as long as possible through the integration of robot-
ics and automation. A companion robot is being developed that
will integrate with a smart home environment. Actions might
include assistance in the elds of medication intake, memory
support training, management of the appointment calendar, and
social interaction and safety.
KSERA (Knowledgeable Service Robots for Aging) (FP7 Project,
2010–2013)
‡
is project investigates the use of robots as “wise family friends”
for senior citizens. It is largely focused on COPD patients, who
are people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. e
idea is that special housing is provided that includes a house
robot and other smart home facilities. e robot must be able
to follow the patient through the house to learn his or her hab-
its, oer advice and, if necessary, alert a doctor immediately.
Entertainment is also included in the form of the Internet and
video communication.
HOBBIT (e Mutual Care Robot) (FP7 Project, 2011–2014)
§
is project is developing a socially assistive robot that
helps senior citizens at home. e focus of HOBBIT is the
*
www.mobiserv.eu/.
†
www.companionable.net/.
‡
http://ksera.ieis.tue.nl/.
§
http://hobbit.acin.tuwien.ac.at/.
105tAking CAre oF our PArents
3.3.2 General Ethical Issues Relating to Care Robots
e ethical issues we already have discussed in relation to domotics
(see Section 3.2.2) are also applicable to care robots: privacy, human
contact, quality of life, and the competence of caregivers and care
recipients. For example, most care robots will collect data, since they
will monitor the care recipient, which might infringe the right to pri-
vacy, and working with a lifting robot, such as RIBA II, requires
specic skills of caregivers: knowing how to steer the robot and pre-
dicting potential failures. Here, we discuss three other ethical issues
that are at stake for care robots in general: their safe use, design, and
physical appearance.
3.3.2.1 Safety We are not far from the time when people will live
and interact with care robots and, thus, safety will become funda-
mental. Robot designers should produce safe products for humans
no matter what failure, malfunction, or mishandling may occur.
Because care robots will need to work around people and to touch
them, errors or faults in these robots could result in serious or even
fatal accidents. Conventional safety strategies for industrial robots
cannot be applied to social robots, and especially not to care robots.
A lot of research has been done in this area (see, e.g., Ikuta &
Nokata, 2003; Mukai, Hirano, Nakashima, Sakaida, & Guo, 2011;
CompanionAble Project). Up to 2014, there were no internation-
ally recognized safety regulations or guidelines. As a consequence,
companies have been reluctant to take the risk of investing in and
launching a new robot product in case something goes wrong and
development of the mutual care concept: building a relation-
ship between the human and the robot in which both take care
of each other. is is similar to how a person learns what an
animal understands and can do, so it is like building a bond
with a pet. e main task of the robot is fall prevention and fall
detection. To achieve this, the robot will clear the oor of all
objects and thus reduce the risk of falling. It will detect emer-
gency situations so that help can be called in time. e purpose
of the mutual care approach is to increase the acceptance of the
home robot.
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