A Taxonomy of Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Wearable Robots: An Expert Perspective

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Abstract

Wearable robots and exoskeletons are relatively new technologies designed for assisting and augmenting human motor functions. Due to their different possible design applications and their intimate connection to the human body, they come with specific ethical, legal, and social issues (ELS), which have not been much explored in the recent ELS literature. This paper draws on expert consultations and a literature review to provide a taxonomy of the most important ethical, legal, and social issues of wearable robots. These issues are categorized in (1) wearable robots and the self, (2) wearable robots and the other, and (3) wearable robots in society.

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Control strategies for active lower extremity prosthetics and orthotics: a review

Michael R Tucker, Jeremy Olivier, Anna Pagel … (2015)

Technological advancements have led to the development of numerous wearable robotic devices for the physical assistance and restoration of human locomotion. While many challenges remain with respect to the mechanical design of such devices, it is at least equally challenging and important to develop strategies to control them in concert with the intentions of the user. This work reviews the state-of-the-art techniques for controlling portable active lower limb prosthetic and orthotic (P/O) devices in the context of locomotive activities of daily living (ADL), and considers how these can be interfaced with the user’s sensory-motor control system. This review underscores the practical challenges and opportunities associated with P/O control, which can be used to accelerate future developments in this field. Furthermore, this work provides a classification scheme for the comparison of the various control strategies. As a novel contribution, a general framework for the control of portable gait-assistance devices is proposed. This framework accounts for the physical and informatic interactions between the controller, the user, the environment, and the mechanical device itself. Such a treatment of P/Os – not as independent devices, but as actors within an ecosystem – is suggested to be necessary to structure the next generation of intelligent and multifunctional controllers. Each element of the proposed framework is discussed with respect to the role that it plays in the assistance of locomotion, along with how its states can be sensed as inputs to the controller. The reviewed controllers are shown to fit within different levels of a hierarchical scheme, which loosely resembles the structure and functionality of the nominal human central nervous system (CNS). Active and passive safety mechanisms are considered to be central aspects underlying all of P/O design and control, and are shown to be critical for regulatory approval of such devices for real-world use. The works discussed herein provide evidence that, while we are getting ever closer, significant challenges still exist for the development of controllers for portable powered P/O devices that can seamlessly integrate with the user’s neuromusculoskeletal system and are practical for use in locomotive ADL.

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Lower Extremity Exoskeletons and Active Orthoses: Challenges and State-of-the-Art

Aaron M. Dollar, Hugh Herr (2008)

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Trust and Antitrust

Annette Baier (1986)

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Contributors

Alexandra Kapeller:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1989-2016

alexandra.kapeller@liu.se

Heike Felzmann: heike.felzmann@nuigalway.ie

Eduard Fosch-Villaronga: e.fosch.villaronga@law.leidenuniv.nl

Ann-Marie Hughes: A.Hughes@soton.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Eng Ethics

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Eng Ethics

Title: Science and Engineering Ethics

Publisher: Springer Netherlands (Dordrecht )

ISSN (Print): 1353-3452

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-5546

Publication date (Electronic): 29 September 2020

Publication date PMC-release: 29 September 2020

Publication date (Print): 2020

Volume: 26

Issue: 6

Pages: 3229-3247

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.5640.7, ISNI 0000 0001 2162 9922, Department of Thematic Studies: Technology and Social Change, , Linköping University, ; Linköping, Sweden

[2 ]GRID grid.6142.1, ISNI 0000 0004 0488 0789, Department of Philosophy, , National University of Ireland, ; Galway, Ireland

[3 ]GRID grid.5132.5, ISNI 0000 0001 2312 1970, Center for Law and Digital Technologies, , Leiden University, ; Leiden, The Netherlands

[4 ]GRID grid.5491.9, ISNI 0000 0004 1936 9297, Faculty of Health Sciences, , University of Southampton, ; Southampton, UK

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Alexandra Kapeller http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1989-2016

Article

Publisher ID: 268

DOI: 10.1007/s11948-020-00268-4

PMC ID: 7755623

PubMed ID: 32996058

SO-VID: 6ae3c578-46a6-4c4b-bfef-dfb190d1253f

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Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 5 June 2020

Date accepted : 11 September 2020

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000921, European Cooperation in Science and Technology;

Award ID: CA16116

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010665, H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions;

Award ID: 707404

Award Recipient : Eduard Fosch-Villaronga

Funded by: Linköping University

Open Access :

Open access funding provided by Linköping University.

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Ethics

Keywords: exoskeleton,wearable robots,ethical, legal, and societal (els) aspects,elsi,taxonomy

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Ethics

Keywords: exoskeleton, wearable robots, ethical, legal, and societal (els) aspects, elsi, taxonomy

A Taxonomy of Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Wearable Robots: An Expert Perspective

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Hogrefe: SDG 5 Gender Equality

Most cited references 63

Control strategies for active lower extremity prosthetics and orthotics: a review

Lower Extremity Exoskeletons and Active Orthoses: Challenges and State-of-the-Art

Trust and Antitrust

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