Care robots, robots capable of taking over aspects of health care, are in the ascendancy. In the United States and Japan, a number of different robots have already been deployed to support or replace nursing staff. But this is also happening closer to home, in countries such as Germany and Denmark. In some cases, robots are even taking over the responsibility of care providers completely. Philosopher Aimee van Wynsberghe defended her PhD thesis at the University of Twente on the ethical aspects of robots.
Robots are being used in health care with increasing frequency. For example, they can distribute medicines and bed linen, help patients get out of bed or bring them food. Aimee’s doctoral research included examining the role of these robots in the care process and whether it’s a good idea to design robots that perform aspects of care with complete autonomy. Aimee explains: “There are many advantages to robots in health care. They can save nurses from carrying out heavy work. At the same time, the use of robots also has important limitations. A robot has no empathy, and does not understand the importance of privacy and trust. And what about a robot that dispenses drugs? Suppose a patient refuses to take their medication, what does the robot do then? It can offer the medication again, but when? A robot doesn’t have the ability to talk to the patient and convince them that they really do need to take these drugs. Then there’s the question of what happens if a robot makes mistakes? Who is responsible?”
Aimee van Wynsberghe argues that the duties and the role of the robot have to be fine tuned to aspects such as the patient's needs and the setting. Aimee explains: “You can’t simply state that this particular robot is well suited to care while another is not. It depends on a whole host of factors. You need to reassess each case individually.” She has designed a framework for ethical evaluation of care robots, which she calls the Care-Centred Framework. This framework can be used to assess the current generation of care robots, but also to influence the design of the care robots of the future. Aimee explains: “We need to understand what we are doing before we start producing these kinds of robots.” Her Care-Centred Framework consists of five components: context, practice, actors involved, type of robot and robot capabilities, and manifestation of care values.
For her doctoral research, Aimee also examined the possibilities for tomorrow. One particularly interesting prospect for the future is her own concept: the “wee-bot”. This robot examines the urine of patients who are undergoing chemotherapy, a risky job that is currently carried out by nurses.
