Value sensitive design of social robots: Enhancing the lives of LGBT+ older adults

The integration of care and social robots in aged care offers a promising solution to the increasing global challenges posed by an ageing population and caregiver shortages. While these robots have demonstrated promising outcomes in enhancing emotional wellbeing and social interactions among older adults, there are legitimate concerns regarding the ethical implications, particularly regarding dignity, privacy, and autonomy. Furthermore, marginalised groups, such as LGBT+ older adults, which face existing disparities in old age are at risk of exclusion in the implementation of social robots in aged care. To better account for the diverse set of stakeholder values within the social robot ecosystem, this study applies a value sensitive design approach to a case study: social robot interventions to address the problem of loneliness in the older LGBT+ community. It aims to understand the values of LGBT+ older adults relating to the design of social robots intended to alleviate loneliness and explore emerging value sensitive robot design recommendations. To that end, 33 semi-structured interviews were conducted with LGBT+ older adults, healthcare professionals and LGBT+ ageing service providers, and robot experts. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this study identifies three themes—care values, social values, and community values—and 16 values relevant to the design of social robots for LGBT+ older adults. Further, this study contributes practical, value sensitive design recommendations for social robots in this context, as they emerge from the findings.