Roboethics(Robot Ethics) Info Database

The Ethical Robot License – Tackling open robotics liability headaches

AJung — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:03:36 +0000

At We Robot 2013 Diana Cooper, a JD Candidate at the University of Ottawa, presented her attempt to tackle the open source headache by proposing a new license called the Ethical Robot License (ERL). In her paper, A Licensing Approach to Regulation of Open Robotics, Cooper presents ERL as “a licensing approach to allocate liability between manufacturers and users and promote ethical and non-harmful use of open robots”.

Let’s all stop killer robots, shall we?

AJung — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:55:28 +0000

In November of last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at Harvard Law School jointly published a 50-page report on the topic of killer robots. Earlier this week, on April 23, a new global campaign named the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was launched with the very idea of stopping killer robots. Composed of over twenty international NGOs in ten countries, the campaign's focus is to ban the development, production and use of future lethal robot weapons or “killer robots” that could autonomously locate and neutralize human targets.

Video interviews from Robot Block Party 2013

AJung — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:49:15 +0000

Last week, Robot Block Party 2013 took place right after We Robot conference. Of course, I had an extra day to spend at Stanford University after the conference and couldn’t miss out on the event. The ...

We Robot 2013: Getting down to Business

AJung — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:38:45 +0000

Last year about this time, I had just finished defending her MASc thesis and had flown to Miami for the We Robot 2012 conference, hosted by the University of Miami. Today, I am at Stanford Law ...

New Book: “Robot Futures” by Illah Reza Nourbakhsh

AJung — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:36:45 +0000

Robot Futures is a new book written by Dr. Illah Nourbakhsh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has been teaching roboethics at the university for many years. According to Dr. Noel Sharkey, this book is "[a]n exhilarating dash into the future of robotics from a scholar with the enthusiasm of a bag of monkeys. It is gripping from the start with little sci-fi stories in each chapter punching home points backed up forcefully by factual reality. This is an entertaining tour de force that will appeal to anyone with an interest in robots."

Self-awareness, Robot Rights, and Today’s Robots

AJung — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:51:46 +0000

Last Friday, I was sitting in a seminar room reading up on an article that introduced me to a group called the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots (ASPCR). The message of the group and its position is very clear from the website. The front page of the website reads in large letters "Robots are people too! Or at least they will be someday" and "Upholding Robotic Rights Since 1999". I am very much open to such discussion of robot rights if and when such machines are developed. I think advocating for robot rights would become necessary if robots are sentient beings that are equal to humans. However, if and before we are to get to that point, maybe we should be asking 'why' we would want such a machine in the first place?

Robohub: Your new go-to source for everything robot-related

AJung — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:35:40 +0000

Hello everyone! I bring you some exciting news today. Yesterday, a new website called Robohub shyly made its debut to the world for you to visit. Robohub is a nonprofit initiative that aims to provide you with ...

In search for more HRI/Roboethics — start of CITEC Summer School

AJung — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:36:55 +0000

I woke up Saturday morning with less sense of panic than I had expected. I was scheduled to leave for Europe later that day, and I still had barely packed for my three-week trip. It’s not ...

Congratulations Dr. Aimee Van Wynsberghe!

AJung — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 07:48:49 +0000

About this time last year, I was on a train to the picturesque city of Enschede in the Netherlands. It was my very first trip to Europe and, if I don’t miss my stop, I ...

Robot Film Festival

AJung — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:01:09 +0000

Love robots? Love film? Then you might want to get yourself a ticket to the second of the Robot Film Festival and spend a couple of days in New York city celebrating robot films. Spearheaded by Heather Knight of ...