14 - Should Social and Assistive Robots Integrated within Home- and Healthcare Services Be Universally Designed?

Summary

This chapter aims to present the potential challenges and opportunities brought forth by the integration of care robots within the home- and healthcare services within the Nordic context, stressing the difference between home and conventional or institutional care. In this chapter, we specifically focus on Social and Assistive Robots. Similarly, the chapter aims to discuss if and to what extent these care robots need to be designed for a diversity of users. The chapter suggests Universal Design and accessibility of robots as a potential approach to achieving the care robots’ characteristics of becoming inclusive. Nevertheless, the chapter argues that an inclusive robot approach is important in order to protect the right to health(care), especially if robots will be integrated as part of the home- and/or healthcare services. The chapter exemplifies the need for universal design and accessible robots, as well as the idea of inclusive care robots through empirical work based on a series of interview sessions. Finally, the chapter concludes that: Social and Assistive robots need to be seen in context if such robots are integrated into home- and healthcare services; and that a universal design approach could offer an ethical design charter, a solution, or a guide for designing robots that cater to diverse populations with various situated abilities, considering rights such as the right to healthcare.