Abstract
This extended abstract focuses on the environmental impact of robotics. While robots have already proved extremely beneficial to humanity and new developments promise continued benefits, particularly in the area of social robotics, it would be unwise to neglect the environmental impact of this revolution. The environmental impact of robotics can be more or less sustainable – the outcome will depend on the choices made now. As such, these are ethical issues – the decisions taken now by policy makers, regulators, developers, and others will impact the lives of current and future generations. These choices are not neutral, purely technical choices, but choices with long-term consequences. As such they are ethical choices and require normative analysis. This piece sketches some of the ethical issues that must be considered.
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Acknowledgement
This research was carried out under the INBOTS project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant agreement No 780073.
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O’Brolcháin, F. (2022). Ethical Issues Relating to the Environmental Impact of Social Robots. In: Grau Ruiz, M.A. (eds) Interactive Robotics: Legal, Ethical, Social and Economic Aspects. INBOTS 2021. Biosystems & Biorobotics, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04305-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04305-5_2
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