Wearable Four Degree of Freedom Upper-Limb Soft Robotic Rehabilitation Device, Disney Doesn't Care: Analyzing Ethical Failures in the AI Replication of James Earl Jones's Voice Through Care Ethics 16 views

Though AI voice replicas and a soft robotic rehabilitation device exist in entirely different spheres of technology, both raise the importance of care ethics and the duty that companies and engineers have to protect and respect those that they serve. In my technical project, my team and I furthered the field by addressing user concerns and providing accessible options. In my STS Research Paper, I examined a case in which a company lacked attentiveness or competent responsiveness towards its users. By analyzing the stages of care through one company’s failures in my research paper, I learned how to properly apply care ethics for my technical project and beyond. The technical project my team addressed this semester was creating a wearable four-degree-of-freedom soft robotic exoskeleton for the rehabilitation of stroke patients’ upper limbs. Stroke survivors often experience a reduction or loss of motion in the arm opposite the affected side of the brain. This motion can be restored through practice of repeated motions to rebuild the associated neural pathways. Current methods are expensive, tethered to a physical therapy setting, or bulky, and as a result many patients do not continue rehabilitation. This project provides a lightweight, wearable, inexpensive option for patients to practice these repeated motions at home. It addresses four degrees of freedom in the elbow, forearm, and wrist to help restore everyday functions that patients feel are overlooked, and is contained within a compression sleeve and a backpack. My STS Research Paper focuses on how Disney has treated the AI voice replica James Earl Jones authorized for the character of Darth Vader. It addresses the use of this replica in the popular battle game Fortnite and analyzes it through a lens of care ethics to show Disney’s lack of attention and dismissal of responsibility for its consumers and its employees. I argue that implementing this voice in Fortnite alone is an abuse of power that shows no proper care for Jones’s voice or attention to the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA and that the lackluster attempt at fixing the chat bot’s glaring issues displays a lack of care for the young consumers of Disney produces. Throughout this year, my work on the STS research paper helped me to view my technical project with the consumers in mind. I placed an emphasis on designing to the users’ wants and my team ensured our design was both safe and comfortable. Forward thinking and accountability were at the forefront of my mind after learning about Disney’s actions, and so I spoke up about planning ahead throughout the technical project. I plan to employ the ethical and social lessons learned from my research paper throughout my career whether through speaking up about safety concerns or simply being attentive to the needs of the users. I will carry these lessons with me through graduate school and into my career by speaking up when I notice a safety concern and proactively addressing issues before my designs reach the users.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

rehabilitation; artificial intelligence; care ethics; soft robotics; voice acting

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technical Advisor: Sarah Sun STS Advisor: Benjamin Laugelli Technical Team Members: Aidan Mermagen, Andrew Wittman, Hannah Tse, Juan Gomez, Katherine Page, Madelyn Tubbs, Ryan Murray, Sam Moran, Sean Pawlowski

English

All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)

2026-04-30