Session 5: Human-robot interaction and human dignity

Discussion

about situations appearing in the chapters 25-28 of the novel "The Vestigial Heart":

5.A - Could robot decision-making undermine human freedom and dignity?

5.B - Is it acceptable for robots to behave as emotional surrogates? If so, in what cases?

5.C - Could robots be used as therapists for the mentally disabled?

5.D - How adaptive/tunable should robots be? Are there limits to human enhancement by robots?

Readings to know more

Robot companions and children with autism:

Feil-Seifer D., Mataric M. (2008) Robot-assisted therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders. Proc. 7th Intl. Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 49–52.

Robins B., Dautenhahn K., Te Boerkhorst R., Billard A. (2005) Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: Can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills? Universal Access in the Information Society, 4(2), 105–120.

Robot companions and diabetic children:

Lewis M., Oleari E., Pozzi C., Cañamero L. (2015) An Embodied AI Approach to Individual Differences: Supporting Self-Efficacy in Diabetic Children with an Autonomous Robot. Tapus A., André E., Martin J-C., Ferland F., Ammi M. (eds.): Social Robotics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9388, pp. 401-410, Springer.

Nalin M., Baroni I., Sanna A., Pozzi C. (2012) Robotic companion for diabetic children: emotional and educational support to diabetic children, through an interactive robot. Proc.

Sex with robots:

Levy D. (2007) Love, Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, Harper Collins Publishing: New York.

Sullins J. (2012) Robots, love, and sex: the ethics of building a love machine. IEEE Trans. on Affective Computing, 3(4), 398–409.

Others:

Boden M., Bryson J., Caldwell D., Dautenhahn K., Edwards L., Kember S., Newman P., Parry V., Pegman G., Rodden T., Sorrell T., Wallis M., Whitby B. and Winfield A.F. (2017) Principles of robotics: Regulating robots in the real world. Connection Science, 29(2): 124-129.

Bryson J.J. (2010) Robots should be slaves. In Wilks Y. (ed.): Close engagements with artificial companions: key social, psychological, ethical and design issues, pp. 63-74, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Lichocki P., Kahn Jr P.H., Billard A. (2011) A survey of the robotics ethical landscape. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 18(1), 39-50.

Palmerini E., Azzarri F., Battaglia F., Bertolini A., Carnevale A., Carpaneto J., Cavallo F., Carlo A.D., Cempini M., Controzzi M., Koops B.J., Lucivero F., Mukerji N., Nocco L., Pirni A., Shah H., Salvini P., Schellekens M., Warwick K. (2016) Robolaw: Guidelines on Regulating Robotics.

Sharkey A., Sharkey N. (2012) Granny and the robots: ethical issues in robot care for the elderly. Ethics and information technology, 14(1), 27-40.

Turkle S. (2007) Authenticity in the age of digital companions. Interaction Studies, 8(3): 501-517.