A Review of the Ambit of Politics in Social Robotics

This article reviews the range of currently held positions on the politics of social robotics for skill augmentation of children with autism and other brain disabilities. Publications from peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings were analyzed. From these articles categorizations were accorded into three emerging themes on the politics of social robotics which are, influence, acceptance and adoption. The findings indicated that the social skilling of brain-impaired children are implicated but not present in the development and design process of the robots. Instead, the human social skills were assigned to the capability and general features of the robots. The need for social robots is in tandem with societal changes and the increased demographics as well as demands from the healthcare industry. The conceptualization of brain-impaired children is plagued with stereotypical views that they are both mentally and physically handicapped, helpless, require round-the-clock care and in need of robotic assistance when humans fail. Depending on the nation status, the influence, acceptance and adoption of social robotics are indeed political and the success of science for society needs has to be re-examined and perhaps redefined in order to reap the return on investment of the robot production.