Robot Ethics and Ethical Issues
ROBOT ETHICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES
ABSTRACT
Robot ethics is a branch of applied ethics which endeavours to isolate and analyse ethical issues arising in connection with present and prospective uses of robots. These issues span human autonomy protection and promotion, moral responsibility and liability, privacy, fair access to technological resources, social and cultural discrimination, in addition to the ethical dimensions of personhood.
INTRODUCTION
Robots are machines endowed with sensing, information processing, and motor abilities. Information processing in robotic systems takes notably the form of perception, reasoning, planning, and learning, in addition to feedback signal processing and control. The coordinated exercise of these abilities enables robotic systems to achieve goal-oriented and adaptive behaviours. Communication technologies enable robots to access networks of software agents hosted by other robotic and computer systems. New generations of robots are becoming increasingly proficient in coordinating their behaviours and pursuing shared goals with heterogeneous teams of agents which include other robots, humans, and software systems.
During the last decades of the last century, robots were mostly confined to industrial environments, and rigid protocols severely limited human-robot interaction there. The rapidly growing research areas of field and service robotics2are now paving the way to more extensive and versatile uses of robots in non-industrial environments, which range from the extreme scenarios of space missions, deep sea explorations, and rescue operations to the more conventional human habitats of workshops, homes, offices, hospitals, museums, and schools. In particular, research in a special area of service robotics called personal robotics is expected to enable richer and more flexible forms of human-robot interaction in the near future, bringing robots closer to humans in a variety of healthcare, training, education, and entertainment
ABSTRACT
Robot ethics is a branch of applied ethics which endeavours to isolate and analyse ethical issues arising in connection with present and prospective uses of robots. These issues span human autonomy protection and promotion, moral responsibility and liability, privacy, fair access to technological resources, social and cultural discrimination, in addition to the ethical dimensions of personhood.
INTRODUCTION
Robots are machines endowed with sensing, information processing, and motor abilities. Information processing in robotic systems takes notably the form of perception, reasoning, planning, and learning, in addition to feedback signal processing and control. The coordinated exercise of these abilities enables robotic systems to achieve goal-oriented and adaptive behaviours. Communication technologies enable robots to access networks of software agents hosted by other robotic and computer systems. New generations of robots are becoming increasingly proficient in coordinating their behaviours and pursuing shared goals with heterogeneous teams of agents which include other robots, humans, and software systems.
During the last decades of the last century, robots were mostly confined to industrial environments, and rigid protocols severely limited human-robot interaction there. The rapidly growing research areas of field and service robotics2are now paving the way to more extensive and versatile uses of robots in non-industrial environments, which range from the extreme scenarios of space missions, deep sea explorations, and rescue operations to the more conventional human habitats of workshops, homes, offices, hospitals, museums, and schools. In particular, research in a special area of service robotics called personal robotics is expected to enable richer and more flexible forms of human-robot interaction in the near future, bringing robots closer to humans in a variety of healthcare, training, education, and entertainment
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