With the increasing demand for intelligent products such as elderly care robots, the ethical issues in design such as privacy infringement, prejudice and discrimination, autonomy and responsibility are becoming increasingly prominent, so the research on the design ethics of elderly care robots has become an urgent task. By sorting and analyzing academic literature in China and abroad, a literature review is conducted on design ethics and value sensitive design, artificial intelligence ethics and responsible artificial intelligence. Furthermore, in-depth discussion is conducted on the risks and challenges in the design ethics of elderly care robots and the key ethical points of anthropomorphic design, interaction methods and trust in the design of elderly care robots are elaborated. Finally, the avoidance strategies are put forward for the design ethics of elderly care robots, and several trend suggestions are proposed for the development of design ethics of elderly care robots. Advocating the research foundation of "technology for the good" and establishing a design ethics system for elderly care robots that are in line with China's characteristics can guide the design research and industry application of elderly care robots.