In a care scenario, a robot may have been purchased by the patient, by the doctor or hospital (which sent it home with the patient to monitor their health), or by a concerned family member who wants to monitor their relative. In the latest ORi poll we looked at people’s attitudes about whether a care robot should prioritize its owner’s wishes over those of the patient. Here are the results.

In a care scenario, a robot may have been purchased by the patient, by the hospital (which sent it home with the patient to monitor their health), or by a concerned family member who wants to monitor their relative. Should a care robot prioritize its owner’s wishes over those of the patient?

We have a tall order when it comes to dreaming up a trustworthy care robot: a robot could clean the house, find and fetch objects, and even keep seniors company. But if robots take on so many daily care tasks for the elderly, is it possible that seniors will have to interact with them too much? Is there such a thing as a socially acceptable amount of interaction with a care robot? Let us know what you think as we continue our reader polls about care robots.

Data from our latest poll suggest that readers are optimistic about the role of robots as care assistants for senior members of their families. The majority of our participants were of the opinion that robots will enable seniors to socialize with other people better, using teleconferencing systems such as Skype/FaceTime. However, opinions are split on whether robots themselves will be able to keep seniors company.

One of the driving forces of social, interactive robotics is the issue of impending labour shortage, which is projected to be one of the major and inevitable consequences of the ageing population phenomenon.

Previously we focused our poll discussions on robots that will enter our domestic environment. But what if the environment that surrounds is itself becoming robotic? In our latest poll, we looked at the topic of smart homes.

While vacuum robots continue to dominate the ‘robots at home’ market, with Jibo taking on the role of the top 5 most funded Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign, and Pepper expected to arrive at stores in Japan in early 2015, there’s a lot of excitement about interactive, social or ‘companion‘ robots entering our homes.

Looking into the near future, what do you think about robots being developed for your home or being present as a companion? Share your thoughts with us now; we’ll report our findings in two weeks.

Will autonomous cars take away our jobs? Will we be better off with the cars even if they do? According to our latest poll results, most people think autonomous cars will be a net positive, even though more jobs may be displaced than created.

One of the most popular questions when it comes to discussing robotics is the jobs question. But what about autonomous cars? Will they create jobs, or displace them? Tell us what you think!

The idea of autonomous cars that can communicate with each other and organize themselves to better control the flow of traffic sounds interesting and possibly scary. Our results indicate that the majority (85%) support such technology.

How do people feel about autonomous cars driving around the city streets without a passenger? What if the passenger is drunk or under the influence of drugs? Our poll results find that more people are supportive of a drunk or high passenger riding in a fully autonomous car (one that never requires human input) than having an autonomous car roam the streets without any passengers.

A significant percentage of people today take pleasure in driving and a sense of control it provides; on the other hand, many of us are ready to shift gears to a safer and more efficient passenger experience.

Given a choice between crashing into a motorcyclist wearing a helmet vs. a motorcyclist who isn’t wearing one, which one should an autonomous car be programmed to crash into? What about the choice between crashing into an SUV vs. a compact car?

These are some of the dilemma situations Professor Patrick Lin brought forth in his WIRED article, The Robot Car of Tomorrow May Just be Programmed to Hit You.

Two weeks ago, we presented the Tunnel Problem, and asked if death by autonomous car is unavoidable, who should die. We also asked who should be responsible for making the decision. See the results from our reader poll.

How comfortable are you in putting unlicensed persons as the only passengers of autonomous cars? Would you feel comfortable letting your eight year old daughter ride an autonomous car alone to get to school? How about those who are legally blind? Let us know what you think!