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

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.