Proactive Ethical Design for Neuroengineering, Assistive and Rehabilitation Technologies: the Cybathlon Lesson

Marcello Ienca, Reto W. Kressig, Fabrice Jotterand and Bernice Elger; ournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 201714:115 doi:10.1186/s12984-017-0325-z

As the fields of assistive technology and neuroengineering are entering a new phase of clinical and commercial maturity, there is an increasing need to address the ethical implications associated with the design and development of novel assistive and rehabilitative technological solutions. After reviewing various ethically-sensitive approaches to the design of NART, we proposed a framework for ethical design and development, which we call the Proactive Ethical Design (PED) framework. This framework is characterized by the convergence of user-centered and value-sensitive approaches to product design through a proactive mode of ethical evaluation. Four basic normative requirements are necessary for the realization of this framework: minimization of power imbalances, compliance with biomedical ethics, translationality and social awareness.