Assistive robots and ethical norms: State of the art survey

Over the past decades, autonomous robots have embedded themselves into human lives in various forms. Although there have been limited number of research studies in this discipline, yet the results of scholars' studies reveal that humans especially older adults and people with disabilities have benefited from the use of robots in their daily lives. Over the next decades, number of elderly will be growing; therefore, there will be a high demand for assistive robots to enhance mobility and promote independence. The topic to what extend assistive robots should be empowered in daily life is of great concern in robotic discipline. Robot ethics have a dominant role in forming norms for design, use, disposal, and deployment of assistive robots. This paper reviews design ethics of assistive and autonomous medical robot for elderly and disabled.