Our workshop envisions what we call “robotic home” and how smart home technology could be used as a tool for increasing mental health. “Robotic home” is an integrated system of smart home and robotic technologies that is proactive and interactive with the inhabitant. We focus on the possibility of such technology to be used for enhancing mental health. This could be achieved both through therapeutic functions and by assisting in the aspects of regular life that the inhabitant may have difficulties with because of their condition. Technology like this could make the very home effectively a behavioral therapist. Furthermore, we explore what kind of ethical risks are involved, and how to minimize the risks.
Theories of extended cognition and AI-extenders offer useful theoretical tools for investigating hybrid systems, where cognitive capacities are enhanced or substituted with technological means. In the “extended” view, the integrated technologies are considered as part of their users’ cognition and agency and hence should be given a stronger ethical and legal status. This paper focuses on cognitive technologies such as smart home technologies that can maintain mental health and activities of daily living, and suggests that the extended view offers an advantageous and more ethical way to view them.
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