The DaDuHealth project investigates legal and ethical principles and justifications, social contexts, and stakeholder interests regarding the use of health data. It maps and analyzes the collection, access, and use of health-related data at a data integration center of a large tertiary clinical care center. Furthermore, it investigates the circumstances, barriers, social trends, as well as stakeholder and user actions and perspectives regarding data use and access in consumer health technology settings. KIT carries out a subproject that focuses on actions (i.e. the behavior and the meaning assigned to it) of health technology users who upload data generated by these technologies to online portals.

In the JuBot project, a new generation of KIT’s humanoid ARMAR robots will be developed that can take over everyday tasks in the household as well as wearable robots – also called exoskeletons – that do not only support personal mobility of elderly people, but also enable specific training of motor and cognitive skills. KIT researchers in robotics, artificial intelligence, human-machine interfaces, IT security, engineering, sports sciences, architecture, and technology assessment are jointly working on this project.

The INOPRO project investigated ways to produce intelligent prostheses and ortheses that actively adapt to user needs, help improve quality of life and enable intuitive communication between device and user. KIT led one of the three main sub-projects and a cross-cutting sub-project on ethical, legal, societal and user acceptance aspects.

The Real-world Lab ‘Robotic Artificial Intelligence’ looks at the demand side, the societal needs for robotic AI, involving a wide range of potential users, beneficiaries, and disadvantaged persons of AI technologies of all ages who get in close contact with KIT researchers, jointly develop possible application scenarios, discuss the respective possibilities, limits, and risks of robotic AI technologies, and conduct experiments under real conditions in the sense of feasibility studies in different scenarios at different institutions in Karlsruhe with diverse user groups, including a clinic (the Städtische Klinikum Karlsruhe, SKK).

The TERRAIN project aimed at developing and testing a portable, electronic assistance system to extend the range of motion for blind and partially sighted people. In addition to technology development, KIT did technology assessment research during the entire process, with particular focus on ethical and social aspects of the technologies and with intensive participation of users and other citizens and stakeholders.