Technical Glossary
A comprehensive lexicon for the CCVSD framework, bridging the gap between care ethics, technical implementation, and clinical evaluation.
| Abbreviation | Definition |
|---|---|
| I. Ethics & Methodology | |
| CCVSD | Care Centered Value Sensitive Design |
| VSD | Value Sensitive Design |
| ILK | Intermediate Level Knowledge |
| PVH | Prospective Value Hierarchy |
| RtD | Research through Design |
| II. Robotics & Engineering | |
| DoF | Degrees of Freedom |
| HRI | Human-Robot Interaction |
| LIDAR | Light Detection and Ranging |
| MPPI | Model Predictive Path Integral |
| Nav2 | Navigation 2 (ROS 2 Navigation Stack) |
| KPI | Key Performance Indicators |
| PIR | Path Irregularity Ratio |
| PSI | Personal Space Intrusion |
| ROS 2 | Robot Operating System 2 |
| SFM | Social Force Model |
| TF | Transform (Coordinate Frame System) |
| TTC | Time-to-Collision |
Extended Definitions
Accountability
The obligation of designers and systems to explain and justify technical decisions that impact care.
Acoustic Baseline
The ambient noise floor of a clinical environment, used to set non-intrusive robotic volume limits.
Actuator Compliance
The physical flexibility or "give" in robotic joints, essential for safe human-robot physical interaction.
Attentiveness
The first element of care: the capacity to recognize and identify the unmet needs of care recipients.
Autonomy (Patient)
The value of supporting a patient’s right to make choices about their own care and environment.
Behavioral Observational Data
Data collected during field deployment regarding how humans and robots interact in real-time.
Bifurcated Guides
Documentation split into technical specs for engineers and relational protocols for healthcare staff.
Care-Centered Value Sensitive Design (CCVSD)
An engineering methodology prioritizing care as the primary value throughout the design lifecycle.
Care Dilemmas
Scenarios where two or more care values conflict, requiring prioritized ethical navigation.
Clinical Scenarios
Structured testing environments modeled after authentic hospital ward interactions.
Competence
The third element of care: the technical adequacy and capability to perform a care task correctly.
Conceptual Investigation
Philosophical analysis of values to define what they mean in a specific design context.
Contextual Norms
The unwritten social rules governing behavior, space, and interaction in a specific care setting.
Contextual Variance Matrix
A tool for tracking how value priorities shift across different clinical situations.
Digital Twin
A high-fidelity virtual model of the care environment used for safe simulation testing.
Direct Stakeholders
Actors who interact directly with the robot, such as patients and primary nurses.
Empirical Discovery
The use of social science methods (interviews, observation) to uncover actual human needs.
Engineering Ethics
The application of moral principles to the practice of engineering and technical design.
Ethics of Care
A relational moral theory emphasizing the importance of responsiveness to others’ needs.
Haptic Fidelity
The precision and "feel" of touch-based feedback between the robot and a human.
Human Dignity
The inherent value of the person, requiring that robots do not dehumanize or objectify patients.
ILK (Intermediate-Level Knowledge)
Design knowledge that bridges the gap between abstract ethics and concrete technical code.
Indirect Stakeholders
Actors affected by the robot without direct use, such as cleaning staff or visiting family.
Infrastructure Bias
Unintended ethical assumptions built into underlying hardware, OS, or pre-trained ML models.
Interaction Protocols
Defined rules for how a robot initiates, sustains, and ends an encounter with a human.
Logic Conflicts
Situations where the robot’s programmed efficiency contradicts the relational needs of care.
Moral Skill
The practical engineering ability to translate ethical intentions into technical reality.
Moral Will
The sincere intent or desire of a designer to build an ethical or "good" system.
Path Smoothness
A metric of navigation that avoids erratic movements to prevent patient anxiety.
Privacy
The value of protecting a patient’s information and physical space from unwarranted intrusion.
Proximity Buffers
Calculated safety zones (often in cm) that define the "personal space" of a care recipient.
Qualitative Friction
Points of tension where human users feel the robot is not acting in a "caring" manner.
Relational Care
A model of care that views the provider and recipient as an interconnected, interdependent unit.
Responsibility
The second element of care: taking on the burden of ensuring a care need is met.
Responsiveness
The fourth element of care: attending to the feedback and vulnerability of the care recipient.
Semantic Gap
The distance between care-language (e.g., "patience") and technical-language (e.g., "latency").
Simulation Injection
The process of testing ethical dilemmas within a virtual environment to stress-test logic.
Technical Adequacy
The minimum level of performance required for a robot to be considered "competent" in care.
Technical Moral Log
A transparent record of all technical trade-offs and ethical compromises made during design.
Value Instability
The phenomenon where a value’s importance or meaning changes based on shifting context.
VSD (Value Sensitive Design)
A design approach that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner.