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Technical University of Munich

M.A. Maximilian Braun

Doctoral Candidate

Science and Technology Policy

Doctoral candidate at the Munich School for Social Sciences and Technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Studied Industrial Engineering (B.Eng.) at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and gained work experience in corporate research and development. Completed the RESET M.A. program at the Technical University of Munich. Supported the Science and Technology Policy research group at MCTS during his master's studies. From 2020 to 2023, he was part of the bidt research project "Responsible Robotics and AI in Healthcare." Currently, he is a Senior Technology Consultant in the field of Data Analytics & AI. His research focuses on governance aspects and ethics in AI and robotics research and their relevance and impact on research and work practices.

  • Science and Technology Studies (STS)
  • Robotics and AI Technologies
  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration
  • Science and Technology Governance
  • Research Practices and Subjectivities

Responsible Robotics (RR-AI). Tracing Ethical and Social Aspects of AI-Based Transformations in Healthcare Work and Knowledge Environments

Time Frame: 2020-2023

Funding Institution: Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt)

Description: The integration of embodied Artificial Intelligence (AI) into healthcare and society is expected to deliver major benefits in future decades. However, innovations such as AI operating robots, AI prosthetics, care- or at some point even micro- and nanorobots will come with a number of ethical, social, political and legal challenges, among them ground-breaking shifts in the work cultures and expertise of medical professionals. These challenges arising from novel divisions of labour between humans and machines need to be addressed proactively if embodied AI is to be implemented into medicine and society successfully and responsibly. While overarching principles such as those by the European High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, or standards such as the ISO for personal care robots have been developed, concrete and fine-grained frameworks for a responsible integration of embodied AI products into healthcare practices and work cultures are still largely missing. There are also no best practice models available for the interdisciplinary development of human-machine applications in biomedicine that take ethical, social and regulatory issues into account.

RR-AI therefore seeks to 1) empirically study the social and ethical and legal dimensions of two novel AI-based technologies – a service robot named GARMI, and a smart arm exoprosthesis – as they are being developed and implemented in healthcare practice; 2) develop a practical toolbox for future interdisciplinary AI innovation, as well as concrete standards and recommendations for responsible integration of embodied AI into healthcare work practice and training; 3) experimentally test these tools and recommendations through interdisciplinary co-creation and work-place integration of embodied AI applications. The project thus takes an innovative “embedded” approach, whereby ethical, social, legal and political analyses constitute integral elements of an AI product design process as well as its work place integration. Project results will be discussed with stakeholders, pilot-tested and disseminated widely.

The project is part of the transdisciplinary consortium “Digitalization” , which explores questions of the digital transition in economy and work, politics and society, as well as media and public communication. The consortium is funded by the Bavarian Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Within the consortium, the project “Responsible Robotics” is part of the initiative “economy and work”.

ARTICLES IN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC JOURNAL WITH PEER REVIEW

  • Willem, T., Fritzsche, MC., Zimmermann, B.M. et al. Embedded Ethics in Practice: A Toolbox for Integrating the Analysis of Ethical and Social Issues into Healthcare AI Research. Sci Eng Ethics 31, 3 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-024-00523-y
  • Braun, M., Müller, R. Missed opportunities for AI governance: lessons from ELS programs in genomics, nanotechnology, and RRI. AI & Soc 40, 1347–1360 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-01986-0
  • Breuer, S., Witz, S., Skerlj, J., Braun, M., Bak, M., Naceri, A., … Müller, R. (2024). Putting Embedded Ethics and Social Science into practice: the role of peer-to-peer relationships. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2024.2426854
  • Tigard, D. W., Braun, M., Breuer, S., Ritt, K., Fiske, A., McLennan, S., & Buyx, A. (2023). Toward best practices in embedded ethics: Suggestions for interdisciplinary technology development. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 167, 104467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2023.104467  
  • Svenja Breuer, Maximilian Braun, Daniel Tigard, Alena Buyx, and Ruth Müller. 2023. How engineers’ imaginaries of healthcare shape design and user engagement: A case study of a robotics initiative for geriatric healthcare AI applications. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. https://doi.org/10.1145/3577010
  • Braun, M., Tigard, D., Schönweitz, F. et al. AI Ethics and the Automation Industry: How Companies Respond to Questions About Ethics at the automatica Trade Fair 2022. Philos. Technol. 35, 76 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-022-00570-y  

PEER-REVIEWIED INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

PEER-REVIWED ARTICLES IN NON-ACADEMIC JOURNALS

OTHER

  • TUMinside (2023) Raus aus der Uni, rein in die Praxis: die Projektwochen 2023. Interview für die TUM Projektwochen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCOlOxMh9aw
  • Ritt, Konstantin; Breuer, Svenja; Braun, Maximilian (2021) Responsible Robotics: Im Tanz der Akzeptanz? Zeitschriftenaufsatz, VDI/VDE, Technik in Bayern, Nr. 2, S. 26-27
  • Braun, Maximilian; Breuer, Svenja; Ritt, Konstantin; Tigard, Daniel (2021) Roboter. Eintrag im bidt Glossar. https://www.bidt.digital/glossar/roboter/ 

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