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politics
Clearpath’s public stance on Killer Robots sets precedence in corporate responsibility
AJung Moon
20 Aug 2014
Last week the Waterloo-based Clearpath publicly pledged not to develop lethal autonomous weapons, otherwise known as "killer robots". In an open letter to the public, Clearpath's CTO Ryan Gariepy wr...
Reader poll: How do you feel about “Swarms of Autonomous Cars”?
Open Roboethics Initiative
19 Aug 2014
A few of days ago, WIRED and Robohub covered a story about “Largest Swarm of Robots” and how self-organizing algorithms can be used by robots to form certain shapes. This inspired us to see wha...
Experts have no idea if robots will steal your job | Harvard Business Review
Hallie Siegel
18 Aug 2014
Experts disagree about the future. That might seem unextraordinary, but it’s the conclusion of a new survey on robots from Pew, and it’s more significant than it sounds. For all the talk of “ro...
If drinking and driving, ride the car that doesn’t need your input or let it go home w/o you
Open Roboethics Initiative
18 Aug 2014
For the past few months the Open Roboethics initiative and Robohub have explored the topic of autonomous cars in the form of biweekly polls. We were able to find out a lot of interesting facts about w...
Four recent videos about robots and jobs
Hallie Siegel
14 Aug 2014
Are robots coming for your job, or are they going to make your job easier? We've been following this issue since we ran our Robots and Jobs focus series, and there is no doubt that it's a topic that'...
Artificial intelligence will not turn into a Frankenstein’s monster | Alan Winfield via The Guardian
Hallie Siegel
12 Aug 2014
The doomsayers believe that humanity will be overwhelmed by creating machines that – like Terminator's Skynet – become ever-more clever and reach a singularity. They're wrong.
Read more by Alan W...
AI, robotics, and the future of jobs | Pew Research Center
Hallie Siegel
11 Aug 2014
This report covers experts’ views about advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and their impact on jobs and employment.
The vast majority of respondents to the 2014 Future of the ...
Governmental funding of strategic robotic projects
Frank Tobe
11 Aug 2014
Many governments have determined that robotics will play a significant role in contributing to their economy and have set up projects to fund bottlenecks to speed up the process....
The Neighbourhood Elevator and a new vision of urban density | Robocars
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
05 Aug 2014
I’ve been musing more on the future of the city under the robocar, and many visions suggest we’ll have more sprawl. Earlier I have written visions of Robocar Oriented Development and outlined all ...
Reader poll: Should an autonomous car be able to drive w/o a human passenger?
Open Roboethics Initiative
05 Aug 2014
A couple of months ago, we asked our readers whether three different unlicensed groups of individuals should be able to ride in autonomous cars alone. The individuals were: a child under the legal dr...
Readers split on whether they will miss driving their non-autonomous car
Open Roboethics Initiative
04 Aug 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-MGQqaY3eo
Driving has become an integral component of our daily lives, especially in developed countries. Cars are not just a means for us to get from point A to p...
If courts are going to treat corporations like humans, they should do the same for robots | Slate
Hallie Siegel
04 Aug 2014
The idea of “legal personhood” existed in America originally to promote the work of the country’s first corporations: banks, insurance companies, water companies, and transportation companies. ...
The two cultures of robocars
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
24 Jul 2014
I have many more comments pending on my observations from the recent AUVSI/TRB Automated Vehicles Symposium, but for today I would like to put forward an observation I made about two broad schools of ...
Drones against illegal fishing
Dronologista
24 Jul 2014
Image source: Flickr
With industry losses worth US$23 billion per year, illegal fishing represents a major global problem. One out of three bluefin tunas are caught illegally, as are around 20% of a...
Could Jibo developer Cynthia Breazeal be the Steve Wozniak of robots? | Ryan Calo
Andra Keay
23 Jul 2014
VideoBill Gates once predicted we would have a robot in every home to go with our personal computer. James Temple of is calling Jibo—a new personal robot to be sold commercially in 2015—&l...
When fully autonomous cars are the norm, will you miss driving?
Open Roboethics Initiative
22 Jul 2014
A few weeks ago, one of our readers, Javier Lopez, submitted a number of questions to the ORi team. He brought up many interesting points, and we won’t attempt to cover them all in one poll. But on...
Autonomous car poll: Participants choose random chance over informed decision
Open Roboethics Initiative
21 Jul 2014
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 b...
Flying Donkey Challenge on hold as Kenyan authorities cope with Westgate Mall fallout
Hallie Siegel
18 Jul 2014
Today organizers announced that the first edition of the Flying Donkey Challenge in Kenya, which had preliminary sub-challenges slated to begin this November, is on hold indefinitely due to delays in ...
Deploying automated vehicles
Bryant Walker Smith
16 Jul 2014
In 2012, the Nevada DMV issued the first license to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in the US. The red license plates are only for autonomous test vehicles and are meant to make the cars easi...
Alleged drone ‘Peeping Tom’ photo reveals perils of drone related journalism | Forbes
Hallie Siegel
15 Jul 2014
Last month a Seattle woman said that a drone made her nervous because it was flying outside of her window. Early media reports called the device a flying “Peeping Tom.” Soon afterwards, nat...
Amazon requests FAA permission to test delivery drones
Dronologista
14 Jul 2014
In April this year, Amazon.com issued a shareholder letter that stated: “The Prime Air team is already flight testing our 5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles…″ Fast forward three months to t...
Should we let robots take our jobs? | DNews
John Payne
13 Jul 2014
“In a recent interview, the co-founder of Google discussed how he thinks people shouldn't work so much, and we start having robots do most of the work! Should robots be taking our jobs? Laci dis...
Amazon seeks FAA permission to test drones outdoors near Seattle
Andra Keay
13 Jul 2014
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is seeking permission from U.S. regulators to test its delivery drones near Seattle, as part of a rapid expansion of a program that has sparked widespread deba...
Facebook – Our ffriendly automated identity bender
Jason Millar
11 Jul 2014
I like Star Wars. I like technology. I like philosophy. I like teaching. I like the occasional meme. I like robots. I like a lot of things.
But if I were to give an accurate account of the things t...
Building Social Robots: The Journey of Pleo
Bob Christopher and Jibo
11 Jul 2014
Building a robot company is difficult, very difficult. It requires unwavering belief in yourself, in your idea, in your team and ultimately in your product. But it is also one of the most thrilling ex...
Reader poll: How should an autonomous car optimize crashes?
Open Roboethics Initiative
08 Jul 2014
Photo by Roland Dobbins, Wikimedia
A couple of months ago Dr. Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, wrote an article on autonomous...
How do you want to interface with your autonomous car? Poll results
Open Roboethics Initiative
07 Jul 2014
Those of you who watched the 80’s TV series “Knight Rider” might remember the dialogue between Michael Knight and its super-car, KITT. Some of you might be more familiar with scenes between “J...
FAA Will Miss UAS/NAS Integration Deadline | UAS Vision
Hallie Siegel
03 Jul 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is in danger of missing a Congressionally mandated deadline for expanding the use of non military UAS in the US, according to a report that was conducted by t...
My (autonomous) car, my safety: Results from our reader poll
Open Roboethics Initiative
30 Jun 2014
You are travelling along a single lane mountain road in an autonomous car that is approaching a narrow tunnel. You are the only passenger of the car....
Autonomous vehicles: A powerful tool if you can get the problem right
Peter Norton
25 Jun 2014
“When the American people, through their Congress, voted for a twenty-six-billion-dollar highway program, the most charitable thing to assume is that they hadn’t the faintest notion of what they w...
Reader poll: How would you like to interface with your autonomous car?
Open Roboethics Initiative
24 Jun 2014
We interact with gadgets and devices everyday … some have blinking lights, some play sounds, and some can even decipher our voice commands. When it comes to interfacing with a device as exciting an...
If death by autonomous car is unavoidable, who should die? Reader poll results
Open Roboethics Initiative
23 Jun 2014
Image credit: Craig Berry
Life and death decisions make interesting thought experiments. When you throw an autonomous car into the mix, things get even more interesting....
How important is the FAA’s first commercial licence approval?
Hallie Siegel
16 Jun 2014
On June 10th, the FAA issued a press release announcing their approval of the first commercial UAS flight over land. According to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, this represented an "important ...
While the cat’s away, the mice play: What the drone delivery biz is doing while FAA ruling is under appeal
Robert Corday
13 Jun 2014
The Federal Aviation Administration’s rules on civilian use are currently on hold by a federal court, and in the interim, companies are scrambling to take advantage of using drones to deliver produc...
An ethical dilemma: When robot cars must kill, who should pick the victim?
Jason Millar
11 Jun 2014
Image credit: Craig Berry
We are moving closer to having driverless cars on roads everywhere, and naturally, people are starting to wonder what kinds of ethical challenges driverless cars will pose. ...
Reader poll: If a death by an autonomous car is unavoidable, who should die?
Open Roboethics Initiative
10 Jun 2014
Image source: Karora via Wikipedia.
There may be times when an accident or a death is unavoidable while an autonomous car is controlling the wheel.
What should an autonomous car do when such ...
