"Social robots" are autonomous devices that interact with humans. They are designed for this purpose, and therefore can establish a form of verbal and non-verbal communication with the perception, the modeling and the generation of social signals. 
The introduction of social robots is becoming more and more common in healthcare. Professionals can use them to help and assist patients who suffer from neuro-developmental disorders, or neuro-degenerative diseases for example.
This PhD project addresses the ethical dimension of AI and social robotics in healthcare. It will first question what a social robot is, as a complex object that seems to be characterized by an ability to move itself, to communicate and to show a certain autonomy. It will also question the role of "data" in the human-robot interaction and the potential learning processes of social robots. Finally, what about a structure for the use of social robots based on ethical principles? What kind of political and ethical questions does the introduction of this new technology raise? This research will attempt to determine how to normalize the use of social robots to avoid any violation of human ethical principles, while discussing the social issues regarding their use in public institutions. We will specify the place of these robots when it is assigned to the medical field, and will define where to position them. This work aims to feed the active research in AI and to set up recommendations for an ethical use of social robots in healthcare.

 

PhD student: Meriem BEGHILI
 
PhD supervisors: Anouk Barberousse, Mohamed Chetouani
 
Research laboratories:

• Sciences, Normes, Démocratie
• ISIR-Institut des systèmes intelligents et de robotique