S ilicon P rairie I nitiative on R obotics in I nformation T echnology

1. Silicon Prairie Initiative on Robotics in Information Technology Engineering Ethics

2. The meaning of ETHICS • The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. • A set moral principles or values • A theory or system of moral values • The principles of conduct governing an individual or group • Moral: of or relating to principles of right or wrong in behavior

3. Professional Ethics • Lessons learned at home, in school and churches, mosques, synagogues, or temples may not provide enough explicit advice about professional situations. • If everyone's individually-learned lessons were sufficient, why would we need lawyers? • Professional ethics involves obligations to many stakeholders.

4. Ethics in Engineering Design • Engineering work affects public health and safety. • Engineering can effect business practices and politics. • Personal ethics – how we treat others day to day • Professional ethics – deals with problems at an organizational level. • Two corporations • Corporation and government • Corporation and groups of individuals – the public

5. Ethics and Design • Ethics problems are like design problems • Open-ended, non-formulaic • No unique, correct answer • Both apply a large body of knowledge to the solution of the problem. • Both involve the use of analytical skills. • Both use heuristics for the search.

6. Ethics in Engineering Design • Design is a social activity • Design involves PEOPLE • design team members • clients • manufacturers • USERS • Designing means accepting responsibility for creating a design for PEOPLE to use.

8. The Prime Directive • The prime directive in American engineering ethics is that Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance of their professional duties. “Code of Ethics” of the National Society for Professional Engineers.

9. Engineering Societies • Set design standards • Set ethical standards addressing conflicting obligations and their resolution • Provide mechanisms for helping engineers investigate and evaluate ethical behavior • A Professional Society's Code of Ethics addresses standards of behavior with respect to • clients • the profession • the public • the law

10. IEEE Code of Ethics We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:

11. IEEE Code of Ethics • To accept responsibility in making engineering decisions consistent with the safety, health, and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment; • To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;

12. IEEE Code of Ethics • To be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data; • To reject bribery in all its form; • To improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application, and potential consequences; • To maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;

13. IEEE Code of Ethics • To seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others; • To treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin; • To avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;

14. IEEE Code of Ethics • To assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics.

15. Is it OK for me to be working on this project? • Design of a cigarette lighter • Design of cigarette-making machinery • Design of large scale ovens and their specialized buildings in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s • Design of nuclear weapons • The answer: It depends. • We can only hope that we are prepared by our upbringing, our maturity, and our ability to think and reflect about the issues.

16. Heuristics • A heuristic is anything that provides a plausible aid or direction in the solution of a problem. • Heuristics are usually unjustified and potentially fallible. • Engineering design is the use of heuristics. • Heuristics are used to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources.