Towards Designing Privacy-Compliant Social Robots for Use in Private Households: A Use Case Based Identification of Privacy Implications and Potential Technical Measures for Mitigation

Abstract

Social robots are expected to increasingly appear in private households. The deployment of social robots in the private spheres of humans raises concerns regarding privacy protection. This paper analyses some of the legal implications of using social robots in private households on the basis of four practical use cases. It identifies the privacy concerns associated with each use case and proposes potential technical measures in the form of an initial concept for a companion privacy-app that could resolve or mitigate these concerns, and thereby enhance privacy compliance. The proposed app concept was evaluated in an exploratory study with ten participants. The preliminary results are encouraging and show that this concept has the potential to support the maintenance of privacy and provide control over the user's personal data and the robot's functions.