Robotic Ethics

Shahid Iqbal Tarar

Robotics and Ethics

• A new science or an integral part of Engineering?

• Actually Discipline born from Computer Science, AI, Mechanics, Physics/Maths, Electronics, Automation and control and cybernetics

• Specifics of Robotics– Humanity is at the threshold of replicating an intellegent and

autonomous agent– Complex concepts (like learning, conciousness, decision making,

freedom, emotions etc. ) may not have the same semantic meaning for humans, animals and machines

Robotics and Ethics

• Draws on many disciplnes like logic, neuroscience, biology, philosophy, natural history and arts.

• Robotics de facto unifies two cultures, science and humanities

• The primary precondition for Robotic ethics is the unity of these cultures

Robotics

• Introduction• Three Laws of Robotics introduced by Isaac

Asimov in 1942– A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a

human being to come to harm.

– A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

– A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

• Later, Asimov added the Zeroth Law: – "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to

harm"; the rest of the laws are modified sequentially to acknowledge this.

Robots

• Robots are ”just machines”

• Robots have ethical dimensions

• Robots are moral agents

• Robots present evolution of a new species

Robotic Ethics

• Humanoid • Artificial mind• Artificial body

– Benefits– Problems– Recommendations

• Safety • Security• Tracebility• Indentifiability• Privacy

• Advanced production systems– Industrial Robotics – Adaptive robot servants and intellgent homes– Indoor Service Robots– Ubiquitous Robotics– Network Robotics (Internet Robotics, robot

Ecology)

• Out door Robotics (Land, Seas, Air, Space)• Robotics in Health care and life quality

– Surgical robots– Bio-robotics– Assistive robots– Robotics in Computation

• Military Robotics– Intellegent weapons– Robot Soldiers– Superhumans

• Education and Entertainment – Robot Toys– Educational robots

Ethics in Robotics

Might be seen as consisting of

– The ethical norms built into robots– The ethics of design and production of robots– The ethics of handling/use of robots