Robotic Safety as Situated Practice: A Three-Way Innovation Ecosystem

The safe operation of wearable assistive robotic systems in care settings depends on organisational practices as well as device specifications. Health and social care professionals (HSCPs) sustain these practices in organisations, but are typically excluded from robotic innovation processes. This paper introduces a three-way responsible innovation ecosystem approach to address this gap. The ecosystem brings HSCPs, service users and robotics developers into productive relation at multiple points along the innovation lifecycle of a pneumatic wearable device. We employ a two-track methods approach. Engineering characterisation including burst testing of the device; and interpretive co-creation such as focus groups, workshops and formative evaluation. A documented co-creation protocol structures iterative engagement, with interpretive steps between sessions shaping subsequent interactions. We make three contributions. (1) Engineering findings progress safety and acceptance specifications for a soft robotic wearable device, including systematic material characterisation, a review of existing standards (which do not yet address upper-limb soft wearables), and new situated measures of acceptability. (2) Interpretive results show how safety in assistive robotics is collectively accomplished through organisational practices such as training and the development of professional norms and capabilities. These findings challenge approaches that frame safety as a design property or alignment problem. (3) Methodologically we present a full co-creation protocol that demonstrates our responsible innovation ecosystem. The ecosystem approach demonstrates how engineering and interpretive knowledge must combine to support safe deployment of assistive robots in care settings. The study illustrates how safety is a situated organisational practice and not a property encoded in specifications alone.