Project description
Evidence-based policies for safe healthcare robots
Technology advancements are outpacing policy changes, particularly in the field of healthcare robotics. However, the complex nature of policies across the board has led robot developers to overlook crucial legal considerations, resulting in unsafe systems that can harm patients. Unlike other sectors, the realm of robotic technology lacks evidence-based policies. The ERC-funded SAFEandSOUND project aims to bridge the gap between policy and data obtained from robot testing zones to facilitate evidence-based policymaking. The project will identify regulatory gaps, subject them to experimentation in designated zones, and generate data that is pertinent to shaping policies, establishing requirements, and formulating a charter for user rights. To achieve this, SAFEandSOUND will leverage robot testbeds, open data, and active patient engagement to assist regulators.
Objective
GOAL
This project aims to make healthcare robots safe and sound for society.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
There is an increasing gap between the policy cycle's speed and technological change. This gap is very noticeable in healthcare robotics, where policies are scattered and cover the issues robots entailed unevenly. This disconnect results in robot developers failing to integrate essential legal considerations into their designs, user safety not always being ensured, and the development of systems that may cause harm to patients. While other sectors enjoy evidence-based policies that translate policy goals into practical guidance, these frameworks have yet to emerge for robotic technology.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
SAFEandSOUND has the ambition to connect the policy cycle with data generated in robot testing zones to support evidence-based policymaking for robot technologies. The project examines regulatory gaps for robots from different sources (literature, policy, and patient engagement), tests these issues in experimental zones, investigates how to generate policy-relevant data from such experimentation, and uses it for policy change, design requirements, and a charter for user rights.
METHODS
SAFEandSOUND's overarching methodology is anticipatory regulation, an emerging, proactive, iterative legal approach for empirically framing fast-evolving technological changes. SAFEandSOUND uses robot testbeds, open data, interaction between regulators and developers, and active patient engagement to support regulators' proactive, engaged role in the healthcare robot innovation process.
SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION
SAFEandSOUND advances research toward an evidence-based regulatory model for robots that guides rather than catches up with robot (r)evolution and is more attuned to societal needs and fundamental rights. SAFEandSOUND opens new avenues for using evidence-based mechanisms to regulate robots in the EU and serves as an example for such activities across the globe.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands