Legal Frame of Non-social Personal Care Robots

This paper describes some relevant legal aspects concerning non-social robots. Special attention is drawn to Person Carrier Robots (PCaR) and Physical Assistant Robots (PAR). Although concrete legal binding regulations concerning these two sub-types of Personal Care Robots (PCR) are missing, the insertion of this assistive technology into the market arises some legal and ethical concerns. The main concerns include: cognitive aspects involved in the use of the technology; data protection matters: the way roboticists can make their technology comply with to the new European General Data Protection Regulation; liability contexts depending on their degree of autonomy; privacy and autonomy issued; as well as understanding how the decrease in the human-human interaction could undermine the dignity of the person.