EGAR was a project working with seven robotics development projects in computer science, engineering, and medical technology. The projects are funded by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation’s research programme ‘Autonomous Robotics’. The scope of the research projects ranges from novel algorithms for sensors and robot vision through autonomous drones to exoskeletons and covers a wide range of robotics.

• We analysed fundamental ethical and social issues that arise when robots intervene in social structures. The research questions were derived from the key issues of autonomy and responsibility, privacy and informed consent, and transparency and fairness.

• We conducted empirical qualitative field research in the involved research projects to investigate which practices shape design and development in robotics. We used an ‘embedded ethics’ approach in which we are temporarily working directly in the projects and are part of the development process.

• We synthesised these insights into mitigation strategies tailored to the projects in the ‘Autonomous Robotics’ research programme and made suggestions on how to deal with ethical, societal and legal challenges. EGAR offered regular workshops to facilitate discussions of these challenges.

• In order to facilitate the public's understanding of robots and to incorporate ethical and societal perspectives, EGAR collaborated with the TECHNOSEUM Mannheim. In addition, EGAR investigated which ethical issues arise in science communication - i.e. how robots are communicated to the public, to what extent issues such as responsible research and ethics are conveyed and what effects this has on robotics research and development.