Roboethics - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 92

6 Ethical Evaluation Using Theories of Ethics

The ethical issues associated with both the increasing use of robots in general and
some specifi c applications will now be discussed using some of the theories of eth-
ics presented in Chap. 2 . Many of the long- and even medium-term impacts of the
widespread introduction of robots are diffi cult to predict. They are also likely to
affect a large proportion of the population, including many people who do not use
robots. This situation is covered by the ethics of experimentation in which the intro-
duction of technology is treated as social experimentation and requires 'subjects',
i.e. everyone affected, to have full information to make informed decisions and
voluntary participation without coercion or deception. This would require informa-
tion about the potential impacts of different types of robots to be prepared in jargon-
free form for people without a technical background and widely distributed and all
services provided with the assistance of robots to be available in other ways. In a
society in which robots become all pervasive, it would be very diffi cult for individu-
als or even groups to opt out, indicating that the pervasive use of robots is not totally
in accordance with the ethics of experimentation.
The ethics of experimentation is also relevant to specifi c applications such as
medical robotics. While informed consent is part of standard medical practice, the
choice may be between accepting a particular treatment and no treatment. If the use
of medical robotics becomes pervasive, for certain conditions the only treatments on
offer may be based on the use of robots. Where other options are not available or
diffi cult to access, the idea of informed consent loses some of its meaning. This is
particularly problematical, since very limited information is currently available
about the short- and long-term impacts of the use of different types of robots, includ-
ing nano- and femto-scale robots. Therefore, the ethics of experimentation would
imply that the provision of medical and other services through robotics should be
one of a number of options rather than replacing existing treatments.
The ethics of care involves a context-based approach to preserving relationships.
Here the issue is the impact of the use of robots on relationships between people
and, to a lesser extent, between people and robots. Particular applications of rele-
vance include industrial robots and companion and toy robots. In the case of indus-
trial robots, any applications which lead to a reduction in either available employment
or working conditions will lead to a deterioration of relationships and are likely to
be counter to the ethics of care. However, it should be noted that the use of robots
may have a complex impact on the workplace and change the nature of the jobs car-
ried out by human workers rather than reducing the total number of jobs available.
It could both lead to deskilling and change the skills required. The impacts of the
use of companion and toy robots on the relationships between people, including
children, will depend on the way in which they are introduced and the extent to
which they complement or replace human companionship. Trials indicate that robot
use can increase the interaction and communication competencies of autistic chil-
dren and that they are using the robot as a 'mediator' to support interaction with the
experimenter and other children (Dautenhahn 2007 ; Robins et al. 2005 ). There may