A.L. van Wynsberghe, Ma

Aimee van Wynsberghe

Department of Philosophy

University of Twente

Postbox 217

7500 AE Enschede

telephone: +31-53-489 4073

A.L.vanwynsberghe@utwente.nl

Background

After completing my Honours undergraduate degree in Cell Biology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada (2006), I attended the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, for a Masters in Applied Ethics (2006-08). Following this, I completed an Erasmus Mundus Masters in Bioethics. My focus for the past two years has been on the ethical implications of novel technologies in healthcare and their impact on the patient-physician relationship. In particular, the introduction of surgical robots and long distance robotic surgery (telesurgery) as well as telepsychiatry.

Research

In August 2008 I joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Twente as a PhD student working on the project: Care Robots and the Good Life; an anticipatory ethical analysis of human-robot interaction in care contexts.

With an increase in the average life expectancy and the retiring baby boom generation there will be considerable repercussions on healthcare systems, resources and societies in general. Robots, along with intelligent systems and telecommunications, are seen as a way of overcoming limitations to ensure the best quality of life possible for aging populations. Care robots may be considered any personal or social robot living with an individual capable of fulfilling various “caring tasks”. The focus of the work will involve the concept of care, whether or not a robot can provide care and how this may contribute (or not) to one’s ideal of the good life.

Impossible as it is to predict all the consequences when introducing a new technology, there is still much to be gained by exploring current societal values and how they may be impacted. Currently, human-robot interactions are structured according to human-human interactions which invites the potential for meaningful interaction between humans and their robot companions. Is there something morally wrong with this - deceiving people into thinking they can foster meaningful interaction with a care robot - or is it the logical next step in a technological world? Will it be possible to become friends with your personal robot? This implies the belief that we may fashion meaningful interactions between humans and robots/artificial intelligence and further that the reciprocal element in friendship is not necessary. What implications will this have on future generations and the formation of friendships? Already we can see how the internet may be used to foster friendships but are these equivalent with in-person friendships or is something lacking? What counts as meaningful interaction between friends or people for that matter and what role do meaningful interactions play in the question of the good life?

Supervisor and Mentors

Prof. Dr. Philip Brey and Dr Mark Coeckelbergh

The research will be accommodated within the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology, in which the Department of Philosophy at Twente participates .

Networks

·	Member of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology (www.ethicsandtechnology.eu).

Publications

	Van Wynsberghe, A. and C. Gastmans. Telepsychiatry and the meaning of in-person contact; a preliminary ethical appraisal". Published in the Journal of Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy. Published online July 21, 2009.

	Van Wynsberghe, A., Gastmans, C. Telesurgery: an Ethical Appraisal. Journal of Medical Ethics, 2008; 34: e22.
	Rayman R, Croome K, Galbraith N, Van Wynsberghe, A, et al. Robotic Telesurgery: A real world comparison of ground and satellite based internet performance. International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery, 2007; 3(2), 111-116.
	Rayman R, Croome K, Galbraith N, Van Wynsberghe, A, et al. Long Distance Telesurgery. A Feasibility Study for Care in Remote Environments. International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery, 2006; 2(3), 216-224.
	Rayman R, Croome K, Galbraith N, Van Wynsberghe, A, et al. Effects of Latency on Telesurgery: An Experimental Study, Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 2005, V.3750, 57-64.
	Posters: Van Wynsberghe, A. and Chris Gastmans, Telesurgery: an ethical appraisal. Ninth Annual World Congress of Bioethics, Rijeka, Croatia, 2008.
	Van Wynsberghe, A., The Effect of Network Jitter on Telesurgical Performance. 25^th Annual Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) Conference, Dallas, TX, 2006
	Paper Presentations: Van Wynsberghe, A. and Dr. Joan Bishop. Effects of Alcohol and Substance Abuse on Outcomes of Patients who are taking Clozapine and Receiving Assertive Community Treatment (ACT): a Feasibility Study. International Assertive Community Treatment Conference, San Antonio, TX, May, 2003.
	Van Wynsberghe, A. and Dr. Joan Bishop. Testing whether Clozapine Mitigates the Negative Effects of Substance and Alcohol Abuse on ACT Patients’ Community Outcomes. Ontario Psychiatric Association Annual Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2001.

Other publications

	Van Wynsberghe, Aimee. “Human values best additive to robotics”. London Free Press, Canada, 2009-11-07
	Van Wynsberghe, Aimee. “By definition, ethics often misunderstood”. London Free Press, Canada, 2008-11-06
	Also, the paper for CEPE has been published in the conference proceedings. So the title is Van Wynsberghe, A. "Classifying Service Robots for Policy". proceedings CEPE 2009, Corfu, Greece, July 2009.

▪ Human values best addictive to robotics