Hello Neighbour: Design of Social Robots of Values for the Public

With the rapid adaptation of autonomous robots into public spaces, it presents significant opportunities to improve quality of life, enhance efficiency, and expand access to services. However, their integration introduces ethical challenges that require attention to ensure equitable, safe, and privacy-conscious implementation which this paper will explore. The first section focuses on how robots could perpetuate societal biases and unequal access to benefits, particularly for marginalized communities. By analyzing these biases, it emphasizes the value of co-creation and equitable policy frameworks to reduce amplification of existing inequalities. The second section focuses on safety and public interest, examining the moral and technical challenges of integrating harm avoidance in robot design. It looks into frameworks such as nonmaleficence, real-world scenarios and their implications to show the complexities in decision-making in unpredictable situations. Moreover, the section looks into how public perception of safety and predictability affects trust in the robotic systems, emphasizing the importance of transparency and communication. The third section looks into privacy concerns from robot data collection. As robots continue to gather more data and expand their datasets through sensors and other technologies, there is an ever-increasing concern and issue with surveillance, security and information misuse. Privacy-by-design principles, strong data governance and public engagement are key strategies to mitigate risk of these issues and maintain public trust.