Robotic babies - data, didactics and ethics in social work

The aim of this position paper is to draw attention to and discuss ethical and social challenges relating to the increasing use of social robots and data generated by those robots in social work. We discuss a number of these challenges through the case of a robot baby, being used by different professionals, in Denmark. We then take a broader view on social and ethical challenges based on comparative studies between Denmark and Spain on the use of social robotics in the social professions generated through the EU-PRoSPEro project. Lastly, we propose a case-based experiential learning approach for professionals to learn with and about the robot baby in a way that does justice to the practical, technical, ethical and social complexities of robot use in this field, providing concrete examples.