A Construction Manual for Robots' Ethical Systems by Robert Trappl

Author:Robert Trappl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

6.1.2 Ethical Robotic System

Before going further in depth in our study of the requirements of ethical robotic systems, let us first recall that the word “robot” was first used in 1920 by the Czech author Karel Čapek in a famous theater play entitled R. U. R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) [4], in which automatons designed to work in place of humans came to substitute humans. The etymology refers to a Slavic root that alludes to work. Indeed, “robota” means drudgery in the Czech language. Furthermore, the Čapek robots are also androids that look like humans. To summarize, the word “robot” simultaneously denotes artificial workers and humanoids. As artificial workers, robots are machines that perform tasks, which are usually accomplished by humans or by animals. As humanoids, they look like humans.

Today, the expression “robotic system” clearly refers to both meanings. On the one hand, some robotic systems, especially those developed for the purposes of computer-human interaction, attempt to imitate humans and to arouse emotions to facilitate dialogues and interactions. On the other hand, many robots, for instance, those used for industrial manufacturing, are designed to autonomously achieve some tasks.

Lastly, there are some robots that are designed for public performances. This is the case with botfights [5] that are intended to fight in arenas like animals and gladiators or with the geminoids of professor Hiroshi Ishiguro [6] who builds androids that are exact copies of himself and his daughter.

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