Ethical interaction between humans and robots: the results of the TRI-TECH project
The project was coordinated for the Sant'Anna School by Alberto Pirni, associate professor at the Dirpolis Institute
The ethical aspects of interaction between humans and robots, particularly in the field of elderly care, were the focus of the TRI-TECH research project – TRust in Technology: How to Assess and Improve RoboT-User Interaction in Elderly Care Integrating EtHical, Technical and Social Variables, funded as part of the PNRR AGE-IT initiative. The project was coordinated for the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa by Alberto Pirni, associate professor at the Dirpolis Institute (Law, Politics, Development) and scientific director of the Ethics and Global Challenges research area.
TRI-TECH investigated various types of human-machine interaction, considering the ethical implications and technological transformations. Now that it has come to an end, TRI-TECH has presented its results at conferences and public meetings. Let's take a closer look at what these were.
International Conference in Social Robotics + AI
The International Conference in Social Robotics + AI (ICSR + AI 2025) brought together experts, researchers and professionals from around the world to discuss the latest advances in Social Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. The theme chosen for the 2025 edition, “Emotivation at the Core: Empowering Social Robots to Inspire and Connect”, emphasised the crucial role of “Emotivation”, understood as the synergy between emotion and motivation: a central concept for developing social robots capable of building trust, fostering empathy and supporting decision-making processes through sensitive and engaging interactions.
The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies contributed to the conference with a workshop that marked the conclusion of the TRI-TECH project. Professor Alberto Pirni, Principal Investigator of the project, took part with a presentation entitled ‘Ethically Rethinking Human-Robot Interaction in the Framework of Elderly Society: the TRI-TECH PROJECT’, in which he presented the ethical framework developed within TRI-TECH, and Dr Elena Ricci, with "Exploring Ethical and Technical Dimensions of Companion Robots in Elderly Society: The TRI-TECH Experience in Pisa‘, illustrating the experimental setting conducted in Pisa, the initial results and the future prospects of TRI-TECH.
The workshop also featured contributions from partners from the Cagliari unit of TRI-TECH, Dr Lorenzo Boi, with ’LLM-Powered Companion Robots in Elderly Care: Technical and Ethical Perspectives‘, dedicated to the technical aspects of the project, and Dr Federica Casula, with ’Exploring Ethical and Technical Dimensions of Companion Robots in Elderly Society: The TRI-TECH Experience in Cagliari", who presented the Cagliari experimental setting and the initial data collected.
Care robots: humanoids for care
During the study seminar “Care Robots: humanoids for care”, promoted in recent days in Subiaco by the Science & Life Study Centre in collaboration with the European University and the Campus Biomedico University of Rome, Prof. Pirni illustrated the ethical framework created for the TRI-TECH project, a preliminary schematic framework of the engineering-robotics framework, and some of the main results from two experimental settings. He also proposed some theoretical guidelines for the possibility of a potentially innovative and effective human-machine relationship, which may be necessary in many respects. Finally, he presented some of the main ethical implications of the project as a whole, with a view to outlining further lines of research currently underway.
Participation in these two initiatives represented a significant opportunity to highlight the contribution of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies to the international debate on the ethical interaction between humans and robots, particularly in the field of elderly care, confirming the School's commitment to addressing the technological and social challenges of our time.
