Theme: Ethical implications when using robots to cure children

More and more hospitals around the world are using robots not only to entertain children but also to palliate their feelings of sadness and to gather information about their frame of mind. In Barcelona, since the year 2010, there is a collaboration between the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and the university La Salle Campus Barcelona where different types of robots are used and where their impact on patients is measured and studied. ¿Are robots able to to satisfy certain needs of patients better than pets or gadgets? Can these robots help to gather more information from patients and also to save costs in health care?

Mazda Space
Comerç 60
Barcelona, Barcelona (ca), 08003
Spain

Jordi Albó

Director of robotics

Jordi Albo-Canals is an Associate Professor and Robotics Lab. Coordinator at the Engineering School of La Salle – Ramon Llull University (Barcelona, Spain), Robotics Director at La Salle Almere Campus (Almere, Netherlands), and Senior Researcher at Robotics Lab. of Windesheim Flevoland University (Almere, Netherlands). He is currently visiting Professor at the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) – Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, US. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph. D. degrees from La Salle – Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. In 2012 he was awarded with Spanish Alan Turing Award in Community Service to promote the Project: A robotic system for a cognitive rehabilitation program aimed at
children with TBI. Since 2003 he is involved with a program that links technical academic contents between University, CosmoCaixa Science Museum of Barcelona and Schools in Spain. He is teaching - Robotics & Control Systems
- Educational Robotics at MFP.