A Small Set of Ethical Challenges For Elder-care Robots

Elder-care robots have been suggested as a solution for the rising eldercare needs. Although many elder-care agents are commercially available, there are concerns about the behaviour of these robots in ethically charged situations. However, we do not find any evidence of ethical reasoning abilities in commercial offerings. Assuming that this is due to the lack of agreed-upon standards, we offer a categorization of elder-care robots, and ethical ‘whetstones’ for them to hone their abilities.