Visit from the Caritas Ethics Council
As part of the collaboration between Caritas and the DLR project SMiLE, which deals with robotic assistance for the elderly and people with physical disabilities, Sabine Petri visited the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics on August 31, 2018. She is the executive director of the Caritas Ethics Council and specialist for ethics consulting of the Caritas Association of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
Petri was given initial insights into the work of the institute and a demonstration of the SMiLE project, whose aim is to enable the elderly and persons with physical impairments to lead more independent lives. DLR staff members Alexander Dietrich and Jörn Vogel used the wheelchair assistant EDAN to explain how robotic technology can help nurses, relatives and people with disabilities. The focus is on the autonomy of those involved.
Then DLR staff members Claudio Castellini and Mathilde Connan presented the VITA project. This rehabilitation research project is based on a virtual rehabilitation environment in which persons with upper limb disabilities (such as caused by amputation or stroke) can perform exercises.
A subsequent discussion with the institute director Professor Alin Albu-Schäffer focused on developments in the area of ethical responsibility in research and close collaboration with the SMILE partner Caritas in Garmisch.
