Abstract

Autonomous care robots and semi-autonomous assistive robots are technologies that have the potential to help support people with disabilities in their everyday lives; however, questions are raised about balancing provision of human and robot care, how robots are controlled and by whom, privacy issues around the information robots collect and the costs of their deployment. To realize the assistive potential of robots that adapt to the requirements of each care receiver, in some cases by supporting human carers, acknowledging the importance of interdependence and relational autonomy, as well as flexible human–robot communication, relations and control may be key.