July 3, 2025

Socially assistive robots

Robots and Autonomous Systems are increasingly being integrated into modern healthcare. Will we one day also have Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) to assist less able, isolated or elderly people in private or care homes? Is there a role for these robots in lifting people between beds and chairs, delivering food/parcels, answering the door, accessing the upstairs, analysing boxes of pills to regulate medication, providing intimate care, or even just having conversations? And what kind of regulation, policy and ethical issues will all that throw up?

A new report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers considers the current regulations for RAS in established settings and makes recommendations for how these guidelines must be adapted to healthcare and home settings to look after vulnerable people while ensuring safety and privacy.

This SMC briefing brought together three authors on the report to talk about how a world of socially-assistive robots needs to be regulated, how they might help in future, what they might look like and what they could do. They were also happy to answer any questions on the ethics and risks.

Speakers included:

Prof Helen Meese, PhD, CEng MIMechE, CEO, The Care Machine ltd & Immediate Past Chair, Biomedical Engineering Division, IMechE

Prof. Alessandro Di Nuovo PhD, Professor of Machine Intelligence, Leader of Technological and Digital Innovations, Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University

Dr Daniele Magistro PhD, Associate Professor in Physical Activity and Health, Department of Sport Science, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University