Surname 2
The part of Buddy’s application as a domestic robot that I find socially or morally
unacceptable is his use to help children do their homework and reading them bedtime stories.
Helping children with their homework should be the reserve of parents or guardians since it
serves an important role in molding the children and bonding with them. That also applies to the
reading of bedtime stories for children which should be a great opportunity to bond with their
parents which is also an important requirement for their emotional and psychological
development. Such sensitive roles should not be abdicated to social robots.
Children learn crucial behavioral patterns from their parents. The use of social robots
such as Buddy to carry out certain sensitive parenting roles may interfere with normal
behavioral, psychological and emotional development of young children. If social robots are
allowed to carry out such important roles, there is a big likelihood that children may acquire
abnormal behavior and lack the capacity to develop normal emotional feelings as a result of
adapting to the inanimate behavior of the robots (Torresen, 15). It is possible that such children
may grow to become emotionally unreceptive and unable to decode normal human behavior.
In general, I would say the benefits of using domestic robots such as Buddy far outweigh
the concerns. The domestic robots make life at home much easier and they are a convenient and
efficient element of domestic management. The level of communication capability offered by
Buddy is definitely of huge convenience to homeowners. However, just like any other aspect of
technology the domestic robots should not be applied beyond certain limits. Most importantly,
their application at home should not allow the replacement of normal human interaction and
contact especially in regards to their use with children. It is important to embrace the fact that
domestic robots are the future of domestic management but we should embrace their use with a
certain level of caution.
