First book to look at legal and regulatory aspects of personal care robots

Provides for the first time a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the different types of healthcare robots and the advances that AI brings them. Provides, in an easy and accessible way, essential basic information about the autonomy levels of surgery robots, which is novel. As such, could be very valuable to a broad community that ranges from legal scholars, ethicists, developers, policymakers, students, or non-specialists curious about the topic.

Provides for the first time a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the different types of healthcare robots and the advances that AI brings them. Provides, in an easy and accessible way, essential basic information about the autonomy levels of surgery robots, which is novel. As such, could be very valuable to a broad community that ranges from legal scholars, ethicists, developers, policymakers, students, or non-specialists curious about the topic.

This book provides an in-depth overview of what is currently happening in the field of Law and Artificial Intelligence (AI). From deep fakes and disinformation to killer robots, surgical robots, and AI lawmaking, the many and varied contributors to this volume discuss how AI could and should be regulated in the areas of public law, including constitutional law, human rights law, criminal law, and tax law, as well as areas of private law, including liability law, competition law, and consumer law.  Aimed at an audience without a background in technology, this book covers how AI changes these areas of law as well as legal practice itself. This scholarship should prove of value to academics in several disciplines (e.g., law, ethics, sociology, politics, and public administration) and those who may find themselves confronted with AI in the course of their work, particularly people working within the legal domain (e.g., lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, public prosecutors, lawmakers, and policy advisors). Bart Custers is Professor of Law and Data Science at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga is Assistant Professor at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The integration of robotic systems and artificial intelligence into healthcare settings is accelerating. As these technological developments interact socially with children, the elderly, or the disabled, they may raise concerns besides mere physical safety; concerns that include data protection, inappropriate use of emotions, invasion of privacy, autonomy suppression, decrease in human interaction, and cognitive safety. Given the novelty of these technologies and the uncertainties surrounding the impact of care automation, it is unclear how the law should respond. This book investigates the legal and regulatory implications of the growing use of personal care robots for healthcare purposes. It explores the interplay between various aspects of the law, including safety, data protection, responsibility, transparency, autonomy, and dignity; and it examines different robotic and AI systems, such as social therapy robots, physical assistant robots for rehabilitation, and wheeled passenger carriers. Highlighting specific problems and challenges in regulating complex cyber-physical systems in concrete healthcare applications, it critically assesses the adequacy of current industry standards and emerging regulatory initiatives for robots and AI. After analyzing the potential legal and ethical issues associated with personal care robots, it concludes that the primarily principle-based approach of recent law and robotics studies is too abstract to be as effective as required by the personal care context. Instead, it recommends bridging the gap between general legal principles and their applicability in concrete robotic and AI technologies with a risk-based approach using impact assessments. As the first book to compile both legal and regulatory aspects of personal care robots, this book will be a valuable addition to the literature on robotics, artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, law, and philosophy of technology.

This book provides an in-depth overview of what is currently happening in the field of Law and Artificial Intelligence (AI). From deep fakes and disinformation to killer robots, surgical robots, and AI lawmaking, the many and varied contributors to this volume discuss how AI could and should be regulated in the areas of public law, including constitutional law, human rights law, criminal law, and tax law, as well as areas of private law, including liability law, competition law, and consumer law. Aimed at an audience without a background in technology, this book covers how AI changes these areas of law as well as legal practice itself. This scholarship should prove of value to academics in several disciplines (e.g., law, ethics, sociology, politics, and public administration) and those who may find themselves confronted with AI in the course of their work, particularly people working within the legal domain (e.g., lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, public prosecutors, lawmakers, and policy advisors). Bart Custers is Professor of Law and Data Science at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga is Assistant Professor at eLaw - Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.