Twenty-five years ago, robotics guru Joseph Engelberger had a mission to motivate research teams all over the world to design the ‘Elderly Care Giver’, a multitasking personal robot assistant for everyday care needs in old age. In this article, we discuss how this vision of omnipotent care robots has influenced the design strategies of care robotics, the development of R&D initiatives and ethics research on use of care robots. Despite the expectations of robots revolutionizing care of older people, the role of robots in human care has remained marginal. The value of world trade in service robots, including care robots, is rather small. We argue that the implementation of robots in care is not primarily due to negative user attitudes or ethical problems, but to problems in R&D and manufacturing. The care robots currently available on the market are capable of simple, repetitive tasks or colloquial interaction. Thus far, also research on care robots is mostly conducted using imaginary scenarios or small-scale tests built up for research purposes. To develop useful and affordable robot solutions that are ethically, socially and ecologically sustainable, we suggest that robot initiatives should be evaluated within the framework of care ecosystems. This implies that attention has to be paid to the social, emotional and practical contexts in which care is given and received. Also, the political, economic and ecological realities of organizing care and producing technological commodities have to be acknowledged. It is time to openly discuss the drivers behind care robot initiatives to outline the bigger picture of organizing care under conditions of limited resources.

中文翻译：

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机器人能够满足护理需求？追求25年的多任务护理机器人，现有产品可提供简单的娱乐和工具帮助

25年前，机器人技术大师约瑟夫·恩格尔伯格（Joseph Engelberger）的使命是激励全世界的研究团队设计“老年人护理员”，这是一种多任务个人机器人助手，可以满足老年人的日常护理需求。在本文中，我们讨论了无所不能的护理机器人的愿景如何影响护理机器人的设计策略，研发计划的发展以及使用护理机器人的伦理研究。尽管人们期望机器人能够彻底改变老年人的护理，但是机器人在人类护理中的作用仍然微不足道。服务机器人（包括护理机器人）的世界贸易价值很小。我们认为，护理机器人的实施并非主要是由于用户的负面态度或道德问题，而是由于研发和制造中的问题。当前在市场上可获得的护理机器人能够进行简单，重复的任务或口头互动。迄今为止，对护理机器人的研究也大多是出于想象的场景或为研究目的而建立的小规模测试。为了开发在伦理，社会和生态上可持续的有用且负担得起的机器人解决方案，我们建议应该在护理生态系统的框架内评估机器人的计划。这意味着必须注意在给予，接受照顾时所处的社会，情感和实践环境。同样，必须认识到组织护理和生产技术商品的政治，经济和生态现实。