Towards an ethical robot: Internal models, consequences and ethical action selection

Winfield, Alan F.T.; Blum, Christian; Liu, Wenguo

Abstract

If robots are to be trusted, especially when interacting with humans, then they will need to be more than just safe. This paper explores the potential of robots capable of modelling and therefore predicting the consequences of both their own actions, and the actions of other dynamic actors in their environment. We show that with the addition of an 'ethical' action selection mechanism a robot can sometimes choose actions that compromise its own safety in order to prevent a second robot from coming to harm. An implementation with e-puck mobile robots provides a proof of principle by showing that a simple robot can, in real time, model and act upon the consequences of both its own and another robot's actions. We argue that this work moves us towards robots that are ethical, as well as safe. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS) 2014
• Start Date: Sep 1, 2014
• End Date: Sep 3, 2014
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
• Print ISSN: 0302-9743
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8717 LNAI
• Pages: 85-96
• Series Title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Series Number: 8717
• Book Title: Advances in Autonomous Robotics Systems
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10401-0_8
• Keywords: human-robot interaction, safety, internal model, machine ethics
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/827208
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10401-0_8
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Advances in Autonomous Robotics Systems: Proceedings of the 15th Annual Conference, TAROS 2014