Ethics in Human Robot Interaction (HRI)

1. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI)

2. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Evolution of robots (then) • What can robots do? • How do they fit into our lives? • What are the possibilities? • Dangers?

3. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) • Asimov's laws (1942) (1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. (2) A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. (3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. (Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics) 0th law (added later) : A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

4. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Impact of the robot evolution on roboethics What should we consider?

5. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Roboethics is a young field – even less has been studied about roboethics applied to HRI • “Good” robotics • What does this mean? • What are the implications of more able robots? • Necessary paradigm shift • From : Design from the engineer's perspective • To : Design from the perspective of the end user What does this require?

6. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Facts: • In 2006, there were 77 reported robot-related accidents in England alone, according to the Health and Safety Executive. (Robots: AI Methods in Robotics) • In 2007 a military robot used in the South African army killed nine soldiers after a malfunction • According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's World Robotics Survey, in 2002 the number of domestic and service robots more than tripled, nearly outstripping their industrial counterparts. ... • If a robot is autonomous and capable of learning, can its owner/designer be held responsible for all its actions?

7. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • A few basic questions to consider: • If someone is harmed by a robot or because of a robot's actions, who's to blame? If robot is a tool, could we blame the saw manufacturer if somone gets cut? • If someone is harmed because they use the robot for a purpose other than that intended, who is to blame? • If the robot experiences catastrophic failure, and someone is harmed by the robot's inaction, who's to blame?

8. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • These are diffcult questions to answer definitively, but what about unpredictable behavior? • “Emergent behavior” is the sometimes unexpected behavior that results from interactions between the robots control system and the real world • Not uncommon! • How accountable is the designer for emergent robot behavior?

9. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • “Open texture risk” • Risk occurring from unpredictable interactions in unstructured environments. • Example : getting robots to understand the nuances of natural (human) language. • Ambiguity resulting from interpretation that varies due to outside factors. • Asimov’s Three Laws do not specifically address these risks! • Ethics are embedded into robots • Through code designed to resolve issues

10. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Executing complex tasks in unstructured and dynamic worlds is an immensely challenging problem • The most efficient form is the humanoid robot form since the real world environment is designed to serve dual-armed bipeds (stairs, railings, etc...) • However, merely giving a robot the human shape does not make it friendly to humans. ** Present day humanoid robots instead of stepping over a person lying on the ground would most probably walk on the person without falling over ** What expectations does a humanoid inspire?

11. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Key areas for emerging roboethics include: • Ensuring human control of robots • Preventing illegal use • Protecting data acquired by robots • Establishing clear identification and traceability of the machines

12. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Case study : Hospital delivery robot • What kinds of services could this robot provide? • Provide directions to specific hospital locations • Provide efficient delivery of meds, charts, food • Consult with patients' families regarding diagnosis, prognosis and treatment • Self care (charge battery, etc) • Stay out of the way! • What kinds of services should the robot provide? • How should the robot accomplish these tasks?

13. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • Ethical issues for robots used in health care (carebots) • If the development and use of carebots is driven by management motivations will this be the only motivationand expected benefit? • Are carebots also meant to improve the care itself? • Will they actually improve care? • Will they enhance the quality of the lives of the patients? • Will they enhance values such as autonomy? • Is it ethically desirable or allowed to replace human-human interaction with human-robot interaction in this context? • What is ‘genuine’ social interaction? • The use of robots may allow more frequent contact with patients, but what is the value of that kind of contact desirable? And how can we evaluate this? • Will carebots enhance the quality of life of patients, given that human-human interaction will be substituted for human-robot interaction?

14. Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI) • A few last thoughts • Robot use is becoming increasingly pervasive in society: • Assist ill and elderly people by monitoring them • Assist developmentally disabled adults and children • Helping stroke patients with rehabilitation • Deliver drugs, food, mail in hospitals • Robots in the home – assist with domestic tasks • How can we prepare? • Design, develop and test realistic scenarios and evaluate these scenarios as we focus on the ethical aspects of HRI • Design, develop and implement contingencies to handle potentially harmful robot behavior