  The nursing literature shows that cultural competence is an important
requirement for effective healthcare. We claim that personal assistive robots
should likewise be culturally competent, that is, they should be aware of
general cultural characteristics and of the different forms they take in
different individuals, and take these into account while perceiving, reasoning,
and acting. The CARESSES project is an Europe-Japan collaborative effort that
aims at designing, developing and evaluating culturally competent assistive
robots. These robots will be able to adapt the way they behave, speak and
interact to the cultural identity of the person they assist. This paper
describes the approach taken in the CARESSES project, its initial steps, and
its future plans.
