Equity – Accountability
The person responsible for the robot's actions is fairly accountable.
Accountability in human-robot interaction concerns a simple but persistent question: who is responsible when something goes wrong, or when a robot's behaviour leads to harm or unintended consequences. As robots move into homes, schools, healthcare, and public spaces, this question becomes less theoretical and more operational. Accountability shapes trust, adoption, and the willingness of different stakeholders to integrate robots into shared environments. Without clear responsibility structures, even technically reliable systems can be perceived as risky or unjust.
This concern is consistently reflected in empirical work across education, healthcare, and care robotics. Responsibility is often described in terms of blame assignment when something goes wrong. In educational settings, concerns arise when robots provide incorrect information due to faulty input, with teachers, IT staff, or suppliers each being considered partially responsible depending on context. Similarly, multi-stakeholder perspectives highlight ambiguity between manufacturers and teachers regarding accountability for maintenance, updates, and classroom use. In healthcare and care robotics, the question extends further: developers must weigh ethical priorities such as privacy and wellbeing, while older adults distinguish between ethically acceptable supportive use and more intrusive human-like interaction. Across domains, responsibility is often pre-negotiated or redistributed depending on anticipated use. Finally, studies show a consistent tendency to assign higher moral responsibility to human agents than robotic ones, even when robots are directly involved.
Excerpts from the paper:
About the value "Equity"
Equity entails treating people differently based on the circumstances, to ensure an equal outcome. In contrast, equality – treating everyone the same regardless of their situation – did not emerge as a relevant value during the focus groups discussions. Indeed, the experts suggested focusing on equity as a key value. They noted that equity is closely linked to demographics (who) and the environment (where), which can significantly impact a robot's performance. For instance, the geographical location can influence how often a robot overheats and how easily it can be repaired.
About "Accountability"
As highlighted during the scoping review, the users need to know who is responsible if a robot malfunctions or makes a harmful decision. Clear lines of accountability are essential so that those responsible can be held accountable for the robot's actions. Establishing accountability helps build trust and ensures the fair and just deployment of robots. Originally, this topic was categorised under the value of truth, but focus groups participants suggested moving it under equity.