Robotics Resources - IEEE TechEthics

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This curated page provides access to all robotics-related videos, articles and education modules listed on the IEEE TechEthics resource pages. Visit often, as new resources are added regularly.

Videos

ICRA 2022 Panel: Gregory Dudek, Ajung Moon, Elizabeth Hunter, Matt Meister, and Douglass Jerolmack

Video

Panel Discussion | Robotics for Climate Change Workshop @ ICRA 2022

This panel discussion features experts in robotics, environmental science, forest management and oceanography discussing a wide range of topics related to the workshop goal of addressing the challenges brought on by climate change.

Video

Surface Signatures of Ocean Subduction for Targeted Sampling

Vertical velocities in the ocean are generally several orders of magnitude smaller than horizontal ones. However, the vertical exchange of water masses is a critical component of the climate system; it also plays a large role in the redistribution of nutrients and pollutants, thereby impacting ecosystems.

Video

Design and Deployment of Marine Robotics for Environmental Exploration and Monitoring

The ocean plays a critical role in shaping the future of the planet under climate change, acting as the primary store of heat and carbon on Earth. In order to better understand the effects of this interaction between the climate and ocean into the future, exploration and monitoring of marine environments is critical.

Articles/Publications

Article/Publication

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Jailbreak LLM-Driven Robots

AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and other applications powered by large language models (LLMs) have exploded in popularity, leading a number of companies to explore LLM-driven robots. However, a new study now reveals an automated way to hack into such machines with 100 percent success.

Article/Publication

Asimov’s Laws of Robotics Need an Update for AI

While human-AI collaboration can be constructive, AI deception undermines trust and leads to wasted time, emotional distress, and misuse of resources. In this IEEE Spectrum guest article, a 4th law of robotics is proposed that would require artificial agents to identify themselves to ensure our interactions with them are transparent and productive.

Article/Publication

AIs and Robots Should Sound Robotic

This IEEE Spectrum guest article posits that humans need to know whether we’re talking with a living, breathing person or a robot with an agenda set by the person who controls it. That’s why robots should sound like robots.

Education Modules

Education Module

The Nature of Nudging

“Nudging” refers to the ability of systems or robots (embodied AI) to overtly influence human users with or without their direct consent. When used by permission and with awareness around a robot or system’s desired goals, nudging can greatly improve user’s lives for anything from dieting to depression. However, when nudging is covert and utilized in aggressive advertising algorithms to incentivize purchase or influence behavior that may not be desired by users or their loved ones nudging poses an ethical threat and negative business implications.

Eerie graphic of a silver robotic face split in two.

Education Module

Transparency and Accountability for Robots and Artificial Intelligence Systems

As Autonomous and Intelligent Systems are spreading across several industry and service sectors, the public, the users, the designers, policy makers and lawmakers need to understand who is responsible for the behavior and the decisions made by such systems. This course explains the basic concepts of transparency and accountability and how these can be translated, and applied, in the context of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems.

Three people in business suits talking in a conference room.

Education Module

Engineering Ethics: Topics for Robotics and Automation Engineers

This course is designed to introduce engineers who work in the fields of robotics and automation to ethical considerations and codes of ethics. The author discusses the principles of the IEEE Code of Ethics as well as another code of ethics written specifically for robotic engineers. He also reviews current ethical challenges associated with work in these fields, including those associated with military use of unmanned surveillance systems and automated weapons.