Robots: Robot Ethics (Part 1)

Posted 13 Feb 2009 at 11:37 UTC by mwaibel

With autonomous sentry robots stationed at the borders of Korea and Israel, more than 12,000 robots presently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and funding for the US Future Combat System exceeding $230 billion, calls for a large public debate on robot ethics are louder than ever. A special two part series of Robots now focusses on robot ethics, featuring interviews with two world-renowned experts with different views. In the first interview of the series, Noel Sharkey, professor of Public Engagement, AI and Robotics, joins us from the University of Sheffield, UK, while in the next episode we will hear from Ronald Arkin, professor at Georgia Tech, US. The interviews were recorded individually and both researchers were asked the same questions. To listen to the first interview in the series, covering Noel Sharkey's overview of the current situation and discussions on military robots, robots in society, medical robots and legal responsibilities, visit the Robots website or directly tune in to the podcast!