The use of social robots has been proposed for the delivery of therapy to autistic children. The aim of such projects, of which the DREAM project is an example, is to replace therapists by robots, operating in sensory environments that enable them to detect and respond to feedback from the child. This article considers the ethical concerns of autonomy, community, transparency, identity, value, and empathy to evaluate the ethics of such deployment of robots. In doing so it provides a response to the Richardson et al. article in IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Mar. 2018 [20]. This article concludes that deployment of robots to control the behavior of autistic children is ethically suspect and should be questioned. The use of robots with children should be evaluated on the basis of the purpose of and process by which such robots are deployed, rather than on the basis of the technology itself. Particularly important is the roboticist's empathy with the user of the robot, and gaining an understanding of the individual child. The paper suggests how an understanding of the autistic child might lead to sensitive deployment of a robot to help the child manage social environments through supporting the child's regulation of emotions.

中文翻译：

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自闭症儿童的机器人增强治疗：伦理分析

已提议使用社交机器人为自闭症儿童提供治疗。此类项目（其中 DREAM 项目就是一个例子）的目标是用机器人代替治疗师，在感官环境中运行，使他们能够检测和响应来自儿童的反馈。本文考虑了自主性、社区、透明度、身份、价值和同理心等伦理问题，以评估此类机器人部署的伦理问题。在这样做时，它提供了对理查森等人的回应。IEEE 技术与社会杂志上的文章，2018 年 3 月 [20]。这篇文章的结论是，部署机器人来控制自闭症儿童的行为在伦理上是可疑的，应该受到质疑。应根据部署此类机器人的目的和过程来评估与儿童一起使用机器人的情况，而不是基于技术本身。特别重要的是机器人专家对机器人用户的同情，并了解每个孩子。该论文提出了对自闭症儿童的理解如何可能导致机器人的敏感部署，以通过支持儿童的情绪调节来帮助儿童管理社交环境。