AUTHOR=Chin Jenna H. , Haring Kerstin S. , Kim Pilyoung TITLE=Understanding the neural mechanisms of empathy toward robots to shape future applications JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurorobotics VOLUME=17 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurorobotics/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2023.1145989 DOI=10.3389/fnbot.2023.1145989 ISSN=1662-5218 ABSTRACT=

This article provides an overview on how modern neuroscience evaluations link to robot empathy. It evaluates the brain correlates of empathy and caregiving, and how they may be related to the higher functions with an emphasis on women. We discuss that the understanding of the brain correlates can inform the development of social robots with enhanced empathy and caregiving abilities. We propose that the availability of these robots will benefit many aspects of the society including transition to parenthood and parenting, in which women are deeply involved in real life and scientific research. We conclude with some of the barriers for women in the field and how robotics and robot empathy research benefits from a broad representation of researchers.