CG: n
CT: In addition to advancing the robotics field, Veruggio has also been involved with robot ethics, coining the term “roboethics”. Expanding on that effort, Veruggio founded an association called “Scuola di Robotica” (School of Robotics), through which he was able to promulgate the ethics of robotics to the general public. For his efforts in the field of science and ethics, Veruggio was awarded the title of Commander of the Order to the Merit of the Italian Republic in 2009, one of Italy’s highest civilian honors.
S: ETHW – https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Gianmarco_Veruggio (last access: 27 January 2025)
N: 1. A term formed by the nouns “robot” (c.1923, “mechanical person,” also “person whose work or activities are entirely mechanical,” from the English translation of the 1920 play “R.U.R.” -“Rossum’s Universal Robots”- by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik “forced worker,” from robota “forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery,” from robotiti “to work, drudge,” from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota “servitude,” from rabu “slave” -from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh– “pass from one status to another;”), and “ethics” (“the science of morals,” c. 1600, plural of Middle English ethik “study of morals” (see ethic); the word also traces to Ta Ethika, title of Aristotle’s work; related: Ethicist) or “ethic” (late 14c., ethik “study of morals,” from Old French etique “ethics, moral philosophy” (13c.), from Late Latin ethica, from Greek ēthike philosophia “moral philosophy,” feminine of ēthikos “ethical, pertaining to character,” from ēthos “moral character,” related to ēthos “custom”; meaning “moral principles of a person or group” is attested from 1650s).
- roboethics: It is the area of study where roboticists, philosophers and engineers debate the ethical, social, humanitarian and ecological aspects of robotics.
2. The 2017 resolution of the European Parliament on the civil law rules on robotics and AI prioritized six main areas for EU legislative efforts: ethics, liability, intellectual property and flow of data, standardization, employment and institutional coordination and oversight. Additionally, the 2017 resolution included recommendations for a code of conduct for robotics scientists, where the role of ethical design and responsible research was recognized.
3. The first International Symposium on Roboethics was held in Sanremo, Italy, between the 30th and the 31rd Januray 2004.
4. While military robots were initially a main focus of the discussion (e.g., whether and when autonomous robots should be allowed to use lethal force, whether they should be allowed to make those decisions autonomously, etc.), in recent years the impact of other types of robots, in particular, social robots have become an increasingly important topic as well.
5. In the 1940s, American writer Isaac Asimov developed the Three Laws of Robotics arguing that intelligent robots should be programmed in a way that when facing conflict they should remit and obey the following three laws:
- A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
S: Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/word/robot#etymonline_v_15132, https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=ethics, https://www.etymonline.com/word/ethic (last access: 29 January 2025); Robotics24 – https://robotics24.net/blog/glossary/roboethics/ (last access 27 January 2025). 2. Langman/NIH – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8572833/ (last access: 29 January 2025). 3. Roboethics – http://www.roboethics.org/sanremo2004/ (last access: 27 January 2025). 4. IEEE – https://www.ieee-ras.org/robot-ethics (last access: 27 January 2025). 5. IE – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/roboethics-the-human-ethics-applied-to-robots (last access: 27 January 2025).
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CR: artificial intelligence, automatic control engineering, bioethics, computer science, cybernetics, robot, robotics.
