2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Empowerment loop: a value-based model of the interactive unity of human and technology
| Project/Area Number |
18K00035
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| Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
Grueneberg P. 金沢大学, GS教育系, 准教授 (00757718)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | empowerment / healthcare / robotics |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
- General results: expert interview with Northern German Broadcasting on "Robotics in Japan"; organization of panel at international conference STS Graz 2019 on "Humans & machines in healthcare contexts: interdisciplinary perspectives" (to be held in May 2019). Panel with Japanese and international researchers focussing on the implementation of healthcare technologies in Japan.
- Phase A Stakeholder analysis, foundations: working concept of health ("the ability to adapt and self-manage") used for defining empowerment; defintion of empowerment technologies in the healthcare context ("Supplementing reduced physical, sensory or cognitive functions"); application (collaborative research): design of interview guidelines for semi-structured interviews (hypotheses, questions, method of evaluation); determination of target groups (medical care-facilitators, childcare workers, guardians of the disabled) and case studies
- Phase B: R&D analysis: defined basic concept for a Japanese engineering approach to empowerment technologies; conducted two qualitative interviews with robotic engineers about human-machine interaction and related ethical issues; gave invited talk at international conference about applied ethics: "Japanese robotics from inside and outside: Where to go with the 'robot society'?"; submitted invited book chapter for a volume on "Humans & Machines in Medical Contexts: Case Studies from Japan", title: "Empowering patients in the interactive unity with machines. A study on engineers and engineering of the robotic rehabilitation system HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb)"
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Phase A Stakeholder analysis
Due to timing problems of an international collaborator, the invitation of the collaborator to Japan for the conduction of stakeholder interviews had to be postponed to November 2019.
As compensation, several results for phase B (R&D Analysis) were obtained.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
FY 2019 Phase A: Stakeholder analysis:
- May~October: designing functional model of interactive unity;
- June~November: completing interview guidelines, preparing interviews apppointments), conducting interviews
- December~March: evaluating interviews, publishing results
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| Causes of Carryover |
Interviews and a workshop were planned with a German research collaborator. However, the collaborator had timing problems in FY2018 so that the interviews and the workshop had to be postponed to FY2019.
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Research Products
(2 results)
