Building robots for care: Designing inclusive, accessible care robots with difference in mind

Start date: 1 May 2026
End date: 31 May 2027
Funder: The British Academy
Primary investigator: Professor Amelia DeFalco
Co-investigators: sesmp

Value

£10,000

Description

This project takes an interdisciplinary approach to analysing, theorising and developing strategies for inclusive, accessible, ethical care robot design. As care robots are increasingly numerous and entering spaces with diverse and vulnerable human users, and ‘smart machines’ are a UK government priority for the future of health and social care, there is an urgent need to reassess how such robots are designed and how they can accommodate users with a wide range of cultural backgrounds and abilities. This project provides an opportunity for leading scholars in philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies to come together with designers and human-robot interaction (HRI) specialists to analyse the ethical and practical challenges of inclusive care robot design and to speculate on its possible futures.