We are witnessing the transition of robots from labs to publicly accessible spaces where they interact more with humans. This requires an increased focus on Human-Robot-Interaction, raising
inherent ethical and legal issues.
The workshop will give the audience insight into regulations and initiatives, addressing the main ethical implications and legal issues currently being discussed and also how these can open up new directions in research related to robotics and AI systems (Saplacan, Khaksar, and Torresen 2021). Measures to address the implications and issues are important to make robots more relevant for human interaction and assistance and are especially important when addressing Social Assistive Robots (SARs). The workshop will present some of these aspects through concrete examples from ongoing research projects, including challenges and opportunities with introducing SARs in the home- and healthcare settings. Based on our previous and ongoing research, we will showcase concrete ethical aspects, related to privacy and safety, as described by the users themselves. In our work, we have included both vulnerable users (e.g., elderly), and non-vulnerable users (young adults) that had no previous experience with robots. Similarly, we will discuss other legal considerations, development of relevant standards, universal design principles and more. This will be discussed from an international perspective and with both female and male gender speakers. There is no specific prerequisite knowledge required. Thus, the workshop will be targeting all attendees of the ECMR 2023 conference.
Added value for the participants and learning objectives of the workshop:
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Getting an overview of the most commonly expressed ethical and legal considerations with regard to robots and systems (Torresen 2018).
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Get insight into the European Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) and the EU’s new legal framework for robot safety, i.e., the Machinery Regulation, which includes safety requirements for human-robot interaction (European Commission. 2021a and 2021b).
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Get knowledge about ethical aspects regarding safety and privacy of users when interacting with SARs in home- and/or healthcare settings, inclusive robots and diversity of users.
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Get an overview of and insight into relevant standards that are in progress or have already been approved.
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Get insight into how ethical assessment and legal challenges are relevant for research and development of robots and systems (Mahler 2022).
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Learning will also be strengthened with concrete examples and cases from the current or previous research projects on how, e.g., elderly and working-age users experience interaction, privacy, and safety issues related to robots. Topics of Interest (provide a list of keywords): AI-ethics, human-robot interaction, service robots, SARs in home and/or healthcare contexts
Expected audience
As development is moving from lab settings to practical applications involving users, there is increasing attention on the ethical implications and legal issues related to robots and systems. The workshop will give the audience insight into the main ethical implications and legal issues currently being discussed and also how that can open up new directions in research related to robots and systems. There is no specific prerequisite knowledge required on ethics, legal, and social issues (ELSI). Thus, the workshop will target all attendees of the ECMR-2023 conference.
Program
Session 10:50 to 12:30
10:50–11:00 Welcome and introduction (by organisers)
11:00–11:30 "Legal requirements for Robot Safety and Privacy – contrasting the Machinery Regulation with the GDPR" by Tobias Mahler, Department of Private Law, University of Oslo, Norway
11:30 Discussion and short break
11:45–12:15 “Non-technical Obstacles to the Social Acceptance of Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) in Healthcare”, by Öznur Karakaş and Roger A. Søraa (accepted presentation) Abstract available here.
12:15–12:30 Questions and interaction
12:30–14:00 Lunch
Session 14:00 to 16:30
14:00–14:30 "Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Europe and Beyond" by Vera Lúcia Raposo, NOVA School of Law - NOVA University of Lisbon, FutureHealth / WhatNext.Law, Portugal
14:30–14:45 Discussion and short break
14:45–15:15 "Ethical, Legal and User Perspectives on Assistive Robots" by Jim Torresen, Department of Informatics, Norway
15:15–15:30 Interactive session with comments and/or mentimeter polls
15:30–16:00 “Ethical and User Perspectives on Assistive Robots” by Weria Khaksar, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
16:00–16:30 Wrap-up and future directions
- the participants will be asked to fill in a survey related to the workshop’s theme
- discussions around the questions asked in the survey
The workshop will involve the participants in discussing the ethical and legal challenges in public during the presentation sessions consisting of a mix of invited, and contributed and reviewed research presentations. To avoid the talks being "one-way” presentations, we will in general encourage interaction and questions both during and at the end of each presentation.
In addition to presenting research work only, we plan to have longer special interactive sessions with responses to specific questions expressed on the workshop web page before the event or during the workshop. The organizers will collect and discuss the audience's opinions using an interactive tool (e.g., using Mentimeter). The audience will be able to respond using their smartphone to answer multiple-choice quizzes and reply to word clouds.
At the end of the workshop, we will have a dedicated session for wrap-up and future directions, where the participants will be asked to fill in a survey related to the workshop’s theme. During this last session, the participants will have the possibility to engage in lively discussions around the questions asked in the survey, which will be facilitated by the workshop’s organizers.
Program rationale
The workshop presents some of the most pressing ethical and legal issues robots and AI systemspose to society. The speakers will exemplify the challenges by showcasing research conducted at various universities covering topics ranging from privacy, safety, responsibility, diversity, accessibility and inclusion (responsible robotics), and dignity.
To engage the community in thinking about new research avenues in this area, the workshop will involve the participants in discussions. That is, to avoid the talks being "one-way” presentations, we´ll in general encourage interaction and questions both during and at the end of each presentation. The organizers will collect the audience's opinions using an interactive tool (e.g., using Mentimeter). The audience will then be able to respond using their smartphone to answer multiple-choice quizzes.
Plan for inclusion, diversity and equity
The workshop topics, to a large extent, expand the technical themes of the ECMR conference by its focus on non-technical research and development.
Multiple continents are to be represented as speakers at the event, ensuring international diversity.
Further, as a part of interaction sessions, we would discuss questions putting light on inclusion, diversity and equity related to SARs.
Details about submissions:
- Submission format:
- IEEE US Letter Template (the template can be downloaded: www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html)
- Page limit: minimum 2 pages, but a maximum of 6 pages (including references)
- Deadline for submission: Extended to 10 July 2023
- Notification of acceptance: 24th of July (preliminary)
Submission link: https://easychair.org/account/signin?l=Buy45cKLRNtBn5BXmTKBz6
Conference details: https://ecmr2023.isr.uc.pt/
References
Saplacan, Diana & Khaksar, Weria & Torresen, Jim. 2021. On Ethical Challenges Raised by Care Robots: A Review of the Existing Regulatory-, Theoretical-, and Research Gaps. In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO). IEEE Press, 219–226. https://doi.org/10.1109/ARSO51874.2021.9542844
European Commission. 2021a. “Proposal for a Regulation Laying down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) | Shaping Europe’s Digital Future.” April 21, 2021. https://digitalstrategy. ec.europa.eu/en/library/proposal-regulation-laying-down-harmonised-rules-artificial-intelligence-artificialintelligence.
European Commission. 2021b. “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Machinery Products.” April 21, 2021. https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/45508.
Fosch-Villaronga, Eduard & Mahler, Tobias.2021. “Cybersecurity, safety and robots: Strengthening the link between cybersecurity and safety in the context of care robots.”Computer Law and Security Review. ISSN 0267-3649. 41. doi: 10.1016/j.clsr.2021.105528.
Mahler, Tobias. 2022. “Between Risk Management and Proportionality: The Risk Based Approach in the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act Proposal.” In: Liane Colonna & Stanley Greenstein (editors), Law in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, Stockholm 2022, pp. 247-272
Torresen, Jim. 2018. “A Review of Future and Ethical Perspectives of Robotics and AI.” Frontiers in Robotics and AI 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2017.00075 .