Purpose – This first part of a two-part paper aims to provide an insight into the ethical and legal issues associated with certain classes of robot. This part is concerned with ethics. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper first considers the ethical...

Purpose – This article aims to discuss the potential of robots to assist the disabled and the elderly and to highlight some of the associated ethical issues. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this considers robotic wheelchairs and exoskeletons, companion robots,...