This paper explores ethical and legal implications arising from the intertwinement of cloud services, healthcare and robotics in recent developments towards increasing reliance on cloud-based services for healthcare robots. It closes an existing gap in the literature by highlighting the distinctive ethical and legal concerns associated with the interdependence of the cyber-and the physical aspects of healthcare cloud robotics. The identified core concerns include uncertainties with regard to data protection requirements; distributed responsibilities for robot behavior; the achievement of transparency and meaningful consent for cloud robot services especially for vulnerable robot users; secondary uses of cloud data derived from robot activities; data security; and wider social issues such as the digital divide and the assignment of responsibilities for social consequences to robot designers. The paper aims to raise awareness and stimulate reflection with regard to the legal and ethical impacts on different stakeholders arising from the use of cloud services in healthcare robotics. It shows that due to the complexity of these concerns the design and implementation of such robots in healthcare requires an interdisciplinary development and impact assessment process. In light of legal requirements and ethical responsibilities towards end-users and other stakeholders, we draw special attention to practical considerations that engineers should be cognizant of when developing cloud services for robots in the healthcare field.
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