Social Robotics as Health Assistance - Essay Example

Social Robotics: Health Assistance Abstract: The technology of robotics has in the past few years undergone a spurt of development, which has led to an increase in the amount of interaction between robots and people in the society. In the following paper a detailed discussion will be developed on the role of the social robots in the social arena. The discussion is mainly on understanding the role of the robotics in the area of health assistance. The dialogue will be carried out from a psychological and sociological perspective. The paper examines the social conditions after the introduction of robotics and the input that they make in providing medical assistance to those who require it. Introduction: The technology of interactive software has been developed to a large extent in the past few decades, and the role that this technology has played in the society has also increased correspondingly. The importance of robotics as an emerging technology in the western society cannot be denied, yet a number of scholars such as M Fujita (in his paper written in the year 2000, pp 75-78), have expressed apprehensive about the future of the society in the context of the robot-human interaction. The interest of the people in this topic cannot be denied with an increased coverage and discussion on the role of the robots in the society by the media as well as by scholars in the western society to ensure that a well informed understanding about the interactions between robots and humans in the society. The technology has been in the process of development for almost half a century, where the experts in the field have tried to overcome the differences between machines and humans so that machines could possess the same intelligence and versatility as man does. The history of the technology of robotics can be traced back to the 15th century when Leonardo Di Vinci had designed the first of the robots. The technology is mainly based on the need of human beings for developing techniques which would assist him. Before a discussion on the scope and role of robots in the society and the health care system is commenced there has to be a clear understanding developed of what exactly a robot is. The definition of robots is one which is a disputed topic among the scholars and experts working in the field, and there is no one precise, established definition of robots. The Encyclopedia Britannica has defined robots as ‘any automatically operated machine that replaces human effort, though it may not resemble human beings in appearance or perform functions in a humanlike manner’. This is only one of the many definitions in place with relation to robots. Based on the definition the main characters that I have established include the fact that it reduces human effort and is able to function in an independent manner which is similar to the functioning of a human being. The social robot on the other hand there is a more evolved form of a robot. It has a more elaborative and the functions that it can perform and more complex and sophisticated. My understanding of the social robot comprehends the fact that it is a machine which is able to interact and communicate with the human beings and they should have a physical embodiment so that it can function in an autonomous manner. They have a specific behavior and can function in the society. I have been able to understand clearly the difference between simple robots and the social robots. The social robots are able to interact with the humans and have a specific physical embodiment where they can function in the society and communicate with other entities. On the other hand for any machine to be able to be defined as a robot does not need to meet the requirement of communication and interaction with humans or in society (T. Shibata, K. Wada, Y. Ikeda and S. Sabanovic 2008, pp 689-694). It just needs to have some human characteristics, such as a gaming machine which can think and function for itself, such as the 1990s driverless cars of Ernst Dickmanns. A machine has to be able to function autonomously to be defined as a robot, but to be defined as a social robot it has to be able to communicate and interact with other entities. The characteristics of the social robots include that the social robots should have the ability to communicate with the other machines and interact with the humans. Another important characteristic of the social robots is that it has a physical embodiment which is separate and autonomous from any other source (Breazeal C 2003, pp 167-175). The final characteristic is that the robot should have specific behavioral characteristics so that it can function in the society. Since a clear comprehension of this technology has been established, I will discuss the role that the played by social robots in the field of health care today. Health Care Robotics: The social robots are utilized to ensure that the patients who require attention in the health care facility are able to recover and can be provided the required assistance in their daily functions. These include the areas of elderly care, therapy of children with autism, rehabilitation of physically injured, care of individuals with cognitive disability and also during the conditions of surgeries. Care of Elderly: The use of social robots in the social system has been a reason of joy for a number of experts. They have introduced the system of health care to ensure that the services that are provided to the people are of great significance. For example in the case of the care for elderly people the social robots are utilized to carry out a number of functions including provision of assistance to the elderly in carrying out their daily activities such as walking, bathing, having the right medication at the right time, and others. The other activity that the social robots carry out is that it provides for companionship to the elderly as well as monitors their progress and medical report (C.D. Kidd, W. Taggart and S. Turkle, 2006, pp 3972- 3976). This allows ensuring that the care of the elderly is carried out in a holistic manner where all the areas that need to be focused upon are taken upon and the assistance that is provided to the elderly is well informed. The role of the social robots in the care of the elderly is a highly significant one as it reduces the overall human effort as well as provided qualified assistance to the elderly people. Diagnose and Therapy of Children with Autism Autism is a disability that a person faces for a lifetime, and therefore the requirement of therapy is required to ensure that the children who are facing autism develop to take their place in society. Scholars and experts on autism have stated that the children who face this disability can develop better if they are educated through being placed in a predictable environment. The experts also state that the children who face autism are confused by human to human contact as this makes it harder for them to recognize the varied emotions and behaviors of the other person (Robin B, Dautenhahn K, et al 2005, pp 105-120). Thus the experts had earlier recommended the use of computers to educate the children who were facing autism, as this helps the education of the children in a controlled environment which makes the child feel secure and comfortable. It also allows the child to grow and develop in accordance to the pre modulated and controlled means (Gomes L 2005, pp 1). Today experts are of the belief that the role of the social robots in this field is highly significant as it allows the child to not only learn but also communicate with the educators and through this a well rounded development of the child can be carried out where the cognitive, as well as the interactive skills of the child can be developed in a safe environment which the child can easily adapt to (M. Heerink, B. Kröse, V. Evers and B. Wielinga, 2006, pp 46-70). The software also allows the social robot to adapt to the specific characteristics of the child which any human educator would have done. Thus, social robots play an important role in the social and educational development of the children facing autism in a holistic manner. Rehabilitation of physically handicapped The role of the socially assertive robots in the rehabilitation is another important area which has developed in the recent years. It has been observed that the most important factor that is required for the rehabilitation of those who are suffering from physical handicap is that of motivation. The second requirement is that of assistance in the physical exercise to ensure that the patient is able to move more comfortably and adapt to the physical movements so that the overall rehabilitation is a complete process (D. Lee, T. Yamazaki and S. Helal, 2009, pp 78-84). The best method that can be adopted is to ensure that the person who is assisting the patient is able to perform the task in a professional and comprehensive manner is to ensure that the assistance can repeat the same movements again and again till the patient adapts to the physical actions and can resume the daily activities. The role of the social robots in this field has been recognized by the doctors and they have been employed mainly to ensure that the patients who are recovering from a stroke who need to go through physical therapy so that they can be rehabilitated into their daily routine lifestyle. They help motivate the patients, assess the progress of the patients as well as assist the patients go through the routine of physical exercise which is significant to ensure that the patient recovers completely (M. Heerink, B. Kröse, V. Evers and B. Wielinga, 2008, pp 113-119). Care of individual with cognitive disability Children who face cognitive disability are another group of individuals who may benefit from the services of the social robots. There has been observed that the individuals who are facing cognitive problems are usually hesitant and reluctant to interact with human therapists. The studies in this field reflect that the role of the social robots is highly significant as they can be utilized to teach the children social skills and then be rehabilitated in society (K. Wada and T. Shibata 2007, pp 972-980). The individuals who fail to respond to human interactions and therapy are usually subjected to this form of assistance from the social robots (Nomura T 2009, pp 471-484). This presents the hope that a robot might be used as a social crutch which engages children, teaches them social skills incrementally, and assists in the transfer of this knowledge to interactions with humans. Application in Surgeries This form of technology is also utilized while conduction of surgeries. There has been observed that the robots can be tuned by experts to conduct certain surgeries as this requires only a certain amount of expertise and precision which can be carried out by a robot. In fact there are doctors who utilize the social robots to carry out operations. Challenges Although the technology of robotics is one which has been highly appreciated by the human beings in society there are certain intrinsic problems with the technology which have to be overcome. The challenges today are posing a serious problem to the developing technology of robotics. The first and the foremost challenge to this technology is that although it aims at embodiment of all human characteristics, it cannot reproduce its own form, and if there are any problems within its system, it cannot recover without the attention of the experts. By extension of this logic the technological problem that is being faced is that although robotics aims at embodiment of the human form, it fails to replace the social and cognitive imperitous of human beings. It is only the extension of the human thought and form (Tapus A, Mataric M J, et al 2007, pp 35-41). Therefore it can only exist in accordance to the thoughts of the people and cannot exist without human thoughts. Also another problem is that the robots are incapable of free thought and decision making and therefore cannot differentiate between what is morally wrong and right. They might function in certain area which requires taking a moral stand, but it is incapable of taking a decision (Serenko, N. Bontis and B. Detlor 2007, pp 119-132). Other than the technological problem that is faced the economic factor also creates a certain amount of problems. The technology of robotics is one which is highly advanced and the requirements of developing this technology in the financial terms are very high. The monetary support that is required in the developing of the robots and the maintenance of the robots is very high. This creates a problem as it reduces the pool of customer that can access the technology. Thus, the economic problem is a significant drawback as it does not allow the technology to be accessed by the masses. Another area where problems have com forward with regards to the technology of robotics is that the technology is one which may not be accepted by the people and the patients who the robots may be assisting. There are many elderly as well as patients who are into physiotherapy who are not comfortable with the interaction with the robotics. It also leads to the alienation of the patients as it reduces the amount of human interaction that a patient is exposed to. This only adds to the problem of social acceptance of the robotics in the field of medicines. These are the various problems that are being faced by the technology in the market today. Solution While the development of intelligent affective human-like robots will raise interesting issues about the taxonomic legitimacy of the classification human, the question of whether machines will ever approach human capabilities persist. Technology is now providing robust solutions to the mechanistic problems that have constrained robot development thus far, thereby allowing robots to permeate all areas of society from work to personal and leisure spaces. The sensationalist perspective of machines taking over the world in the future tends to ignore the points raised in this paper (B. de Ruyter, P. Saini, P. Markopoulos, and A. van Breemen, 2005, pp 522-541). The key is to take advantage of these reasoning machines and their capabilities rather than constrain them. By allowing machines become a very different form of ‘species’, rather than constraining it too much to the human frame of reference, we can profit from its inherent capabilities as a machine without trying too hard to cross, and inevitably fall into, the chasm that separates man and machine. This also constitutes a step in avoiding a number of the ethical issues that the domain is in the process of introducing. It being a machine is not a flaw, it’s a role. Conclusion The role of the robotics is a significant one, and the technology that is being developed is of great technological as well as of social importance. The technology is not a stagnant one but is one which is evolving and developing faster. The experts are of the belief that the technology in the future will only develop into other areas of functioning. The social robots are today playing a significant role in the medical sphere and in the future it will only become more extensive. The aim of reduction of human effort as well as assistance in achieving human physical embodiment is now being realized in a more effective manner. Reference Serenko, N. Bontis and B. 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Sabanovic 2008, Tabulation and analysis of questionnaire results of subjective evaluation of seal robot in 7 countries, The 17th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, pp. 689-694 (Can be viewed at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4600747) Read More