Roboethics - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 87

removes any check that the 'intruder' actually intends harm to the people in the
building and de facto removes the rights of the 'intruder', as well as increasing the
likelihood of possibly fatal accidents to, for instance, members of the household
returning unexpectedly, children playing pranks and even cats who have managed to
sneak in. In addition, the presence of armed police can increase tension and the
likelihood of violence. Robot technology has not yet developed to the point where
robots can be used for more sophisticated police roles that do not involve shooting.
The use of armed robots in the home also raises questions about the type of society
we want to live in. There are ethical ways of reducing the incidence of burglary
through social, political and economic changes, as well as improved security mea-
sures that do not lead to people living in (armed) fortresses.

5.4 Companion and Toy Robots

The lifestyles of young people are changing and some sort of virtual or online com-
ponent is becoming increasingly important. Robots have a role as toys and compan-
ions for children and (young) people. They have a particular role in providing
support for autistic children and young adults and have been shown to be able have
a role in mediating interaction, including with other children (Dautenhahn 2007 ;
Robins et al. 2005 ). Robots can also be fun to play with, and simpler robots in par-
ticular can be built from a kit, allowing children and (young) people to learn about
technology design and construction, as well as learning to work cooperatively, for
instance, on the construction of the robot. Robots can also have a number of other
educational roles. However, the widespread use of robots as toys and companions
may have signifi cant impacts on society. Therefore, there is a need to research and
try to evaluate the potential impacts of different types of social use of robots and to
use the results to introduce them in ways that have desirable rather than negative
impacts.
Humanoid robots include Emiew (Hosoda et al. 2006 ) developed by Hitachi,
which balances on two wheels, moves at a good walking pace (6 km/h) is 130 cm
high, has a vocabulary of 100 words and is able to avoid obstacles and shake hands.
It has been cynically suggested that the ability to say 100 words and shake hands
would allow Emiew to become a politician.
Archie (Baltes et al. 2009 ) (Fig. 3.4 ) is being developed at the Vienna University
of Technology as an ethical, cost-oriented humanoid robot able to support individu-
als in everyday life. Archie is humanoid, has the size of a teenager and has a head, a
torso and a pair of arms, legs and hands. Archie should be able to walk in unknown
environments, carry out a number of tasks and express 'emotions' appropriately
depending on the context. As well as other applications, Archie can be used to sup-
port the development and evaluation of different walking algorithms, such as the
zero-moment point method (Vukobratovi and Borovac 2004 ).

A number of robots have been used with autistic children, including the human-
oid robots Robota (Billard et al. 2007 ), Kaspar (Robins et al. 2010 ), Keepon (Kozima

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