IEEE Robotics and Automation's Technical Committee
on:

Roboethics

INTRODUCTION
Robotics research is increasingly raising ethical implications, related to the more strict interaction between robots and human beings, as well as to the closest interaction between robotics itself and biological science, in the study of Man.
In a more general sense, “techno-ethics” has been defined as the discipline aimed at studying moral (social, politic, theological) issues related to the use of technological artefacts in the Society. Considering the high level of technological sophistication reached in the latest years, the fact that technology in general, and robotics in particular, are getting closer and closer to human beings and human life, an ethical reflection that constantly evaluates and guides the scientific and engineering research is of primary importance. Some important robotics frameworks have been including techno-ethical discussions, like the "Bio-xx" opening workshop at ICRA 2002, the workshop "Humanoids: a Techno-Ontological approach” held in Tokyo in 2001, and the paper by Josè Galvan entitled "Techno-Ethics" published in the December 2003 RAM Issue.
OBJECTIVES
Based on the considerations above, the IEEE-RAS Technical Committee (TC) on Robo-Ethics aims to provide the IEEE-RAS with a framework for taking care of ethical implications of robotics research, by promoting the discussion among researchers, philosophers, and ethicists, but also by supporting the establishment of shared tools for managing ethical issues in this context.
The focus of the proposed TC on Robo-Ethics includes the unintended warfare uses of robotics research results, the preservation of human integrity in the interaction with robotic (even bionic) systems, and the study and development of the robot-ethics concept.
The proposed new TC pursues its objectives by organizing focussed events and publications at RAS-sponsored conferences and elsewhere.

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• Robotics and Automation Magazine Special Issue on Roboethics   Special Issue    March 1, 2011 - Robotics and Automation Magazine
  Contact Information: Editors Guest (ieeeramsi at roboethics dot org)

  Robotics research is increasingly raising ethical implications related to the emerging interactions between robots and human beings. Roboethics deals with the ethical aspects of the design, development and employment of intelligent machines. It shares many "sensitive areas" with computer ethics, information ethics and bioethics. Progress in the field of computer science and telecommunications allows us to endow machines with enough intelligence so that they may act autonomously. Therefore, we can forecast that in the twenty-first century humanity will coexist with the first alien intelligence we have ever come in contact with – robots. However; as the application field for robots is widening, and the robot is coming out of the factory halls, new challenges are seen, and even a change of paradigm is taking shape. Not only roboticists, but also sociologists, psychologists and philosophers are discussing the potentialities and the limits of these intelligent machines in relation to human beings.
  
  Original and unpublished high-quality research results are solicited to explore and boost the new areas relevant to Roboethics. Contributions are welcome on the ethical, legal and societal aspects of the following topics (but not limited to):
  • Economy (Replacing humans in the workplace; Robotics and the job market)
  • Psychology (Position of humans in the control hierarchy; Robots and children)
  • Law (Robots and liability; Deployment of autonomously acting robots)
  • Health (Robotics in surgery; Robotics in health care, assistance, prosthetics and therapy)
  • Military application of robotics (Acceptability, Advantages and Risks, Codes)
  • Environment (Underwater robotics noise pollution; Cleaning nuclear and toxic waste)
  • Service (Social robotics, Personal assistants, Companions)
  • Technical Dependability (Availability; Reliability; Safety; Security)

• Roboethics and society: Vision of the Future   Workshop    November 28, 2009 - Tokyo
  Contact Information: Solis Jorge (solis at ieee dot org), Kohji Ishihara (cishi08 at mail dot ecc dot u-tokyo dot ac dot jp)

  A workshop on Roboethics was held to discuss the future of roboethic, robotics, and the society (in Japanese).

• ICT that makes the difference   Keynote    November 23, 2009 - Brussels, Belgium
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  Keynote lecture: "Roboethics: Social and Ethical Implications of Robotics" Gianmarco Veruggio.
  
  Interaction Session "Robotics in daily life"
  
  "The future of human machine interaction – integrated robots and smart homes"
  Atta Badii, Daniel Thiemert, University of Reading, Intelligent Media Systems & Services Research Centre (United Kingdom)
  "Artificial companions? Empathy and vulnerability mirroring in humanrobot relations"
  Mark Coeckelbergh, University of Twente (The Netherlands)
  "The robotic companion"
  Gianmarco Veruggio, CNR-IEIIT, Genova (Italy)

• SPT 2009: Converging Technologies, Changing Societies   Conference Track    June 9, 2009 - University of Twente, the Netherlands
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  Track 10: Robots, cyborgs and artificial life
  Chairs: MARK COECKELBERGH and GIANMARCO VERUGGIO
  
  Given that existing ICT already changes the way we live and think about ourselves, how will the introduction of robots and artificial intelligent systems shape our lives and thoughts? How do these technologies challenge our present and traditional ethical, political, epistemological, and anthropological concepts? How should we live with robots? Is sex with robots an ethical problem? Is the use of military robots a moral improvement? Do artificial intelligent systems challenge our definition of ‘life? Where shall we draw the boundary between biological and artificial life, given that converging technologies might change us into ‘cyborgs’? Have we always been cyborgs? How technological are humans, and how human is technology? How do intelligent robots prompt us to re-think our definitions of the human? How should humans live with non-humans? Where do we draw the line between human and non-human and between nature and culture? Do these frontiers shift, and what is the significance of these (shifting) borders for our practices, our thinking, our society, our existence? This track invites philosophical and trans-disciplinary reflections on these and related problems raised by technological dreams of the quasi-human.

• ICRA'09 Workshop on Roboethics   Workshop    May 17, 2009 - Kobe, Japan
  Contact Information: Jorge Solis (j dot solis at aoni dot waseda dot jp)

  The goal of the Workshop is to enhance a cross-cultural debate on the recent development in the fields of Roboethics. It intends to identify and discuss sensitive area in Robotics, such as the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect robotics research and robotics application t society. And how the latter in turn affects society, politics, and culture, starting from the assumption that science and technology are socially embedded.

• Session: Robot Acceptance and Ethical Issues   Conference    August 3, 2008 - Munich, Germany
  Contact Information: Jorge Solis (solis at takanishi dot mech dot waseda dot ac dot jp, solis at kurenai dot waseda dot jp, solis at ieee dot org)

  17th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

• Robotics: A New Science   Conference    February 20, 2008 - Rome, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  International Symposium @ Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
  The conference is not conceived as technical workshop, but as seminar whose aim is to discuss the current robotics development in the frame of the general history of machines, of Automation and Control, of Wiener’s Cybernetics, and of the Artificial Intelligence.
  G.Veruggio: "Roboethics: Philosophical, Social and Ethical Implications of Robotics"

• Table Ronde «Roboéthique»   Keynote    October 10, 2007 - Obernay, France
  Contact Information: Raja Chatila (raja dot chatila at laas dot fr)

  JNRR07 - Journées Nationales de la Recherche en Robotique.
  Cette table ronde se veut interactive entre un ou plusieurs animateurs et le public. Cette année, nous avons décidé d'aborder le thème de l'éthique de la robotique ou «roboéthique». Keynote: Gianmarco Veruggio, Rodolphe Gelin.

• Seventh International Computer Ethics Conference   Keynote    July 14, 2007 - University of San Diego, USA
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  Veruggio invited to give a keynote speech on Ethical and Societal issues in Robotics

• Track on Philosophy and Ethics of Robotics   Conference Track    June 23, 2007 - University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  ECAP07 - European Computing and Philosophy Conference.
  E-CAP (is the European conference on Computing and Philosophy, the European affiliate of the International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP, President: Luciano Floridi). The conference will deal with all aspects of the “computational turn” that is occurring through the interaction of the disciplines of philosophy and computing. The conference is interdisciplinary: it will host contributions from philosophy, computer science, social science and related disciplines.

• ICRA'07 Workshop on Roboethics   Workshop    April 14, 2007 - Roma, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (info at roboethics dot org)

  The goal of the Full Day Workshop is a cross-cultural update for engineering scientists who wish to monitor the medium and long effects of applied robotics technologies.

• Poster at Humanoids'06   Announcement    December 6, 2006 - Genoa, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  During the Poster Session of the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Gianmarco Veruggio presented a poster displaying the TC activities and announcing the ICRA07 Workshop on Roboethics. New members were recruited.

• Presentation at ETHICBOTS Workshop   Announcement    October 18, 2006 - Naples, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  During the Workshop "Ethics of Human Interaction with Robotic, Bionic, and AI Systems: Concepts and Policies", organized by the ETHICBOTS Project, Gianmarco Veruggio announced the ICRA07 Workshop on Roboethics.

• Plenary Talk at IROS 2006   Dissemination    October 11, 2006 - Beijing, China
  Contact Information: George Bekey (info at roboethics dot org)

  During the Plenary Talk "Co-existing with Robots" at IROS 2006, our distinguished member George A. Bekey presented some slides on the TC activities.

• Steering Meeting   Email discussion March 14 - 27, 2006    March 27, 2006 - Electronic
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  An electronic meeting of the IEEE TC on Roboethics was hold after the Euron Roboethics Atelier (27 February - 3 March 2006, Genova, Italy).
  Participants: Gianmarco Veruggio, Ron Arkin, Atsuo Takanishi and Jorge Solis.
  Here below the main points discussed and approved.
  · The TC co-chairs express their gratitude to the former co-chairs for the devotion and the contribution to the foundation and the success of the initiative.
  · The TC co-chairs wish to thank Dick Voltz and Ken Goldberg for their support and they express their engagement for the maximum productivity and visibility of the TC.
  · The role of Corresponding chair will be hold by Gianmarco Veruggio, who will activate a moderated mailing list and will be concerned with the subscriptions.
  · The TC will assume the official denomination “TC on Roboethics” instead “TC on Robo-Ethics” to simplify the wording and unifying it to the ongoing Roboethics initiatives.
  · The TC will propose to the ICRA'07 Committees – ICRA2007 will be held in Roma (Italy), 10-14 April, 2007 - a Workshop on Roboethics, following the successful one which was held at ICRA’05 in Barcelona. The proposal for a full-day workshop will be submitted to the Tutorials and Workshops Chair, Frank Park, Seoul National Univ., Korea, prior to 15 September 2006.
  · The TC will propose to IEEE-SSIT a Special Issue on Roboethics of the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.
  · The TC promoted its activity during BioRob2006, the EURON Roboethics Atelier and Euros2006, and collected subscriptions for new members.
  · Jorge Solis will promote new TC members also to researchers from Mexico and South America to expand the discussion on Roboethics to other points of view.
  · A list of new TC members has been established and a moderated mailing list will shortly be set up.
  

• Dissemination at EURON Annual Meeting   Dissemination    March 18, 2006 - Palermo, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  During the EURON Annual Meeting Gianmarco Veruggio disseminated the TC activities and recruited new members.

• Dissemination at EURON Atelier on Roboethics   Dissemination    March 2, 2006 - Genoa, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  During the EURON Atelier on Roboethics, the TC Co-Chairs met and many new members were recruited.

• Mini Workshop on Roboethics at BioRob 2006   Dissemination    February 20, 2006 - Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
  Contact Information: Gianmarco Veruggio (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)

  In the framework of BioRob 2006, The first IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, a miniworkshop on Roboethics took place. It was atteded - among others - by Paolo Dario, Atsuo Takanishi and Gianmarco Veruggio, who disseminated the TC activities and recruited new members.

• ICRA'05 Workshop on Roboethics   Workshop    April 18, 2005 - Barcelona, Spain
  Contact Information: Paolo Dario (TCRoboEthics at mail-arts dot sssup dot it)

  The Full-Day Workshop on Robo-Ethics at ICRA 2005 has the purpose of promoting a high-profile, multidisciplinary discussion on the ethical implications that are increasingly raised by new research challenges and application domains of robotics.

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• URL:http://www.roboethics.org/ieee_ras_tc
• Founding Date: February 1, 2004
• Member Count: 80
• Fall 2010 Committee Chairs:
  • Veruggio, Gianmarco (gianmarco at veruggio dot it)
    • CNR-IEIIT, Genoa, Italy
    • corresponding chair - send email to join committee
  • Scheutz, Matthias (mscheutz at indiana dot edu)
    • Indiana University Bloomington
  • Solis, Jorge (solis at ieee dot org)
    • Waseda University
• Committee Chairs Emeritus:
  • Arkin, Ronald (arkin at cc dot gatech dot edu)
    • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Takanishi, Atsuo (TC_contact at takanishi dot mech dot waseda dot ac dot jp)
    • Waseda University
• Recent Innovations Summary:click here to download