Ethical issues

The European Commission in its key policy recommendations, advocates for the inclusion of two ‘horizontal lines’ on ethical and legal issues in any program devoted to the development of the emerging robotic field. Under the current legal framework robots, even if with a great level of autonomy, cannot be granted the notion of legal personhood. There are no legal provisions that specifically apply to robotics, but existing legal regimes and doctrines can be readily applied. Thus, the lack of a reliable and secure legal environment may hinder technological innovation. Anyway ethical principles can guide technological development. In order to prepare the documentation for ethical submission of MoveCare, a comprehensive spectrum of issues, that pertain the testing of the platform in the course of the project, were considered. For analytical purposes, we have distinguished between ethical issues regarding research participants and specifics ethical issues based on the MoveCare functionalities. From an ethical point of view, research participation touches upon morally relevant interests of research participants in three broadly defined domains: 1. Autonomy 2. Beneficence 3. Justice MoveCare platform is characterised by different technical functionalities based on direct interaction with members. In order to ensure participants’ wellbeing, MoveCare functions were analysed from an ethical point of view. The main MoveCare functionalities analysed are: 1. Monitoring 2. Stimulation 3. Assistance 4. Utility The ethical documentation for the overall pilot testing will be submitted in M24 in order to obtain the required approval before the pilot starting date in M27.