RO-MAN 2021 Roboethics Competition: Bringing ethical robots into the home

In 1984, Heathkit presented HERO Jr. as the first robot that could be used in households to perform a variety of tasks, such as guarding people's homes, setting reminders, and even playing games. Following this development, many companies launched affordable "smart robots" that could be used within the household. Some of these technologies, like Google Home, Amazon Echo and Roomba, have become household staples; meanwhile, other products such as Jibo, Aniki, and Kuri failed to successfully launch despite having all the necessary resources. Why were these robots shut down? The simple answer is that most of these personal robots do not work well--but this is not necessarily because we do not have the technological capacity to build highly functional robots.