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Robots for everyday life: Professor Rosenthal develops social technology!
Prof. Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten at RWTH Aachen University researches socially interactive robots for human-technology interaction.
Robots for everyday life: Professor Rosenthal develops social technology!
Professor Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten, head of the Chair of Technology and Individuals (iTec) at RWTH Aachen, is looking for innovative solutions in the field of social robotics. Her current dissatisfaction with existing robots for her projects led her to a new research project, which is being funded by the Volkswagen Foundation with 930,000 euros as part of the Momentum initiative, reports RWTH Aachen RWTH Aachen. The project, titled “Designing Meaningful Robots for Long-term Human-Robot Interactions in the Field,” aims to develop low-cost, socially interactive robots created through a co-design process.
A central element of this project is the integration of citizens as “citizen scientists”, who are actively involved in data collection and maintenance of the robots. This means that users should not only act as test subjects, but also as co-designers of the technology. Professor Rosenthal-von der Pütten attaches particular importance to the fact that psychological research approaches to human-robot interaction go beyond controlled laboratory studies and take place in real application contexts.
Ethics and responsibility in robotics
The question of the ethical design of robots is becoming increasingly important. This is relevant not only for social robotics, but also for technological developments in general. Machine ethics examines the moral aspects of artificial intelligence and robotics, including autonomous systems such as self-driving cars and service robots. In this context, the ethics of robotics play a crucial role Machine ethics.
An interdisciplinary research program like that of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, which is dedicated to the ethical and social aspects of autonomous robotics, shows how important it is to integrate normative values into the development processes of robotics. The development of social robots is accompanied by fundamental ethical considerations, such as how human-robot interactions should be designed and what responsibility the developers bear University of Tübingen.
The challenges in human-robot collaboration (HRC) are complex. The success of robotic technologies depends not only on technical sophistication, but also on user acceptance. Trust can be promoted through transparent, fair and ethical designs. Professor Rosenthal-von der Pütten argues that it is necessary to take users' psychological needs into account in order to increase the acceptance of social robots. Her work represents a shift that is redefining the role of ethics in robotics development.
An example of useful everyday robots includes a lamp that automatically switches off during certain lighting phases to remind the user to take a break. According to Rosenthal-von der Pütten, these approaches are particularly important because they can make the integration of robots into everyday life much easier. The path to more sustainable and socially acceptable robotics design thus appears to be paved through interdisciplinary collaboration and the integration of ethical considerations.