Assessing and Addressing Ethical Risk from Anthropomorphism and Deception in Socially Assistive Robots

In this paper we apply the recent concept of robot Ethical Risk Assessment to an exemplar Socially Assistive Robot (SAR); specifically considering ethical risks posed by anthropomorphism in this context. We draw on two complimentary studies to demonstrate that anthropomorphism is important to overall SAR function and overall relatively low ethical risk. As such, rather than avoiding anthropomoprhism all together (as suggested in a recently published standard on robot ethics), we suggest anthropomorphism in SARs should be a customisable trait that can be adapted to the user.