EPSRC Principles of Robotics: commentary on safety, robots as products, and responsibility. Issue 2 (3rd April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boddington, Paula
• Is Part Of: Connection science. Volume 29:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 170
• Page End: 176
• Publication Date: 2017-04-03
• Subjects: Robot ethics -- Principles of Robotics -- safety -- responsibility; Neural computers -- Periodicals; Artificial intelligence -- Periodicals; Cognitive science -- Periodicals; Connectionism -- Periodicals; 006.3
• DOI: 10.1080/09540091.2016.1271396
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-0091

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The EPSRC Principles of Robotics refer to safety. How safety is understood is relative to how tasks are characterised and identified. But the exact task(s) a robot plays within a complex system of agency may be hard to identify. If robots are seen as products, it is nonetheless vital that the safety and other implications of their use in situ must also be considered carefully, and they must be fit for purpose. The Principles identify humans as responsible, rather than robots. We must thus understand how the replacement of human agency by robotic agency may impact upon attributions of responsibility. The Principles seek to fit into existing systems of law and ethics. But these may need development, and in certain context, attention to more local regulations is also needed. A distinction between ethical issues related to the design of robotics, and to their use, may be needed in the Principles.