Ethics in Human Robot Interaction (HRI)

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Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI)
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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?

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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/T
  hree_Laws_of_Robotics)
• 0th law (added later) A robot may not harm
  humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come
  to harm.

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Ethics in Human Robot Interaction(HRI)

• Impact of the robot evolution on roboethics
• What should we consider?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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.
• Asimovs Three Laws do not specifically address
  these risks!
• Ethics are embedded into robots
• Through code designed to resolve issues

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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?

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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

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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?

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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?

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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