Assisting the Disabled & Elderly

One of the more positive aspects of robot’s increased involvement in our lives is the possibility that robots can assist the disabled and elderly to have a more normal life. For example, a robot could help hold open doors for a person in a wheel chair. A robot could “walk” elderly people at nursing homes where staffing is always difficult and thus ensuring safe exercise for the nursing home residents. Another implication is that robotic prosthetics could replace current conventional prosthetic limbs, allowing people who have been lost arms and legs in devastating accidents to have new arms and legs.

Liability

Any product that is sold on the open market today has certain liabilities against it. The same is true with robots. This issue is very important if while during the normal operation cycle of a robot it injures or kills someone or destroys property. If this unsavory event happens, who is responsible? Is the manufacturer of the robot responsible for making a “faulty” product? Is the programmer of the robot responsible? Is the user responsible for not having adequate training or poor judgment? These issues are the largest Pandora’s Box for robots in general.