Security and Social Issues

Similarly to the legal issue, a security concern regarding to social robots is data security. Social robots collect patients’ personal data and information, which concerns individuals as to whether that information will be kept private or not. According to research done by Elendu and co-authors, there should be a method of encryption which keeps patient data secure while it is being transmitted and stored (Elendu et al., 2023). Another security issue is the potential lack of control of robots. It is possible to have malfunctions or technology failures, which could possibly lead to a loss of control of robots, not knowing what harm they could potentially cause. A prevalent social concern revolving around social robots is the potential loss of healthcare jobs. There has been a rise in the use of robots as nurses, leading to a fear of future unemployment for nurses and other healthcare workers (Farhud and Zokei, 2021). Similarly, research suggests that eventually robots will be able to do human jobs better than humans, which will change the workforce (Walker, 2024).