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Over the coming decades we will require assistive technologies capable of providing, care, human dignity and quality of life through the aging process. Social Assistive Robots (SARs) start to demonstrate a high potential for being used in the areas of social and healthcare. Such close Human Robotics Interactions (HRIs) are likely to involve ethical scenarios that need to be addressed during the development and progressive introduction of SARs. In this book I investigate the current state of the art of HRI benchmarks for guiding the development and introduction of SARs with vulnerable groups. The benchmarks are reviewed based on a qualitative study drawing on the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, autonomy and incorporating a social care ethos. The study, which examined the issues involved in practical HRIs was conducted in social care settings with elderly groups. As a result an extension of HRI benchmarks is proposed to create a Roboethics framework for the development and introduction of SARs.

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Antonio Espingardeiro is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a robotics expert. Antonio holds a BEng in Informatics from Setubal Polytechnic Institute, an MSc in Robotics and Automation and a PhD in Information Systems specialized in social assistive robots from University of Salford, Manchester.

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