Discuss any social, legal and ethical issues associated with using the specific robots

Question

In December, 2018, the independent Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) published a brief review entitled Robotics in Social Care (POST note POST-PN-0591).

Eighteen months on, what is the state of social care robots today?

You are asked to write a short article about the current state of robotics used in a personal social care context. Your article should describe three examples of how autonomous robotic technologies might be used to support personal social care, which should include domestic or care home settings. (You may include robots that are commercially available or that exist as prototypes).

Write no more than 600 words.

Your article should be based on the following plan:

• Give three examples of robots designed for use in a personal social care context, including at least one example of a robot intended for physical assistance and one example relevant to social assistance, with the intended role of each clearly identified. At least two different sensor systems should also be identified across the examples.
• Give a brief description of each robot, referring to concepts and topics discussed in Block 1, such as autonomy, intelligence, sensors and actuators.
• Briefly discuss any social, legal and ethical issues associated with using the specific robots you identified in a personal social care context.
• Give references to the sources of your information.

Marks will also be allocated for the overall quality of your writing in this question (including clarity, structure, spelling, punctuation and grammar).