Anticipating the Use of Robots in Domestic Abuse: A Typology of Robot Facilitated Abuse to Support Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Human-Robot Interaction

Katie Winkle*, Natasha Mulvihill

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Domestic abuse research demonstrates that perpetrators are agile in finding new ways to coerce and to consolidate their control. They may leverage loved ones or cherished objects, and are increasingly exploiting and subverting what have become everyday ‘smart’ technologies. Robots sit at the intersection of these categories: they bring together multiple digital and assistive functionalities in a physical body, often explicitly designed to take on a social companionship role. We present a typology of robot facilitated abuse based on these unique affordances, designed to support systematic risk assessment, mitigation and design work. Whilst most obviously relevant to those designing robots for in-home deployment or intrafamilial interactions, the ability to coerce can be wielded by those who have any form of social power, such that our typology and associated design reflections may also be salient for the design of robots to be used in the school or workplace, between carers and the vulnerable, elderly and disabled and/or in institutions which
facilitate intimate relations of care.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)781-790
Number of pages10
JournalACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2024
EventHRI '24: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction - Campus Maps and University Memorial Center, Boulder, United States
Duration: 11 Mar 202415 Mar 2024
https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2024/

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Research Groups and Themes

  • SPS Centre for Gender and Violence Research

Keywords

  • trustworthy AI
  • safety
  • robot abuse
  • domestic abuse
  • coercive control
  • feminism
  • Human robot interaction
  • perpetrator
  • anticipatory design
  • harm

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