7. David J. Gunkel

Project STORM is a prototype risk‑management framework to support responsible robotics in high‑stakes national security contexts. John and Colette report on some of the outcomes of this project with a focus on security and defence AI/robotics applications. They highlight certain risks such as amplified bias, data poisoning, and inadequate testing that can lead to system failures or misidentification of targets in military AI/robotics systems. They find that traditional “human‑in‑the‑loop” safeguards are declining in defence applications, with the industry shifting toward human–machine teaming or “centauring”. This move has a new set of ethical issues, which they assess using STORM’s prototype risk management framework.

Introducing richROT, a semi-autonomous social robot and participatory art project that began in 2015 and completed a cross-country journey in 2024. Daniel reflects on why richROT makes for a better friend than today’s chatbots and consumer humanoid robots, and why solidarity is more important than intelligence in evaluating the impact and potential of these technologies.Tips and tricks to bring a social robot across the globe: [email protected] and production: Sune With, [email protected] Unit for Robophilosophy and Integrative Robotics: https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy

In dominant forms of Western ethics (consequentialism, virtue ethics, and deontology), moral status is typically decided on the basis of pre-existing properties belonging to the individual, e.g. whether something possesses consciousness or sentience or has the capacity to experience emotional states, like pain or pleasure. Gunkel contests this standard operating procedure, and he does so in various steps. One step identifies and critically examines three seemingly intractable philosophical difficulties with the standard properties approach to resolving the question regarding the moral status of others. In response to these demonstrated difficulties, another step is to introduce and describe an alternative model, one which shifts the emphasis from the properties of an individual entity to the extrinsic social circumstances and relationships. Yet another step is to consider important objections to this relational turn and provide responses to these criticisms. Gunkel concludes by explaining how the goal in all of this is not to complicate things but to introduce and formulate an ethical theory that is more agile in its response to the unique opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.Host and production: Sune With, [email protected] Research Unit for Robophilosophy and Integrative Social Robotics:https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy

Healthcare requires physically and mentally demanding services day and night. In order to relieve caregivers, robots could be used around the clock as social assistance robots or robotic devices. Research into care robots has been ongoing for more than 25 years. While studies introducing new robots are often considered successful and the robots are widely accepted by users, a look at care facilities shows that the robots are not catching on there. Only 10% of all nursing staff have ever had contact with robots during their work. Martine takes an interviewing approach to explaining this discrepancy. Experts with insider knowledge in the field of care robot research offer new perspectives on the challenges associated with the research and development of care robots. The challenges range from spatial and temporal conditions that do not exist in care facilities to differing technical understanding and educational backgrounds, which lead to misunderstandings in co-design between technicians and nursing staff. In the short and medium term, experts see great potential for robots in therapy and rehabilitation, in supporting logistics in conjunction with IoT devices, and in services for well-being, such as meal distribution. Host and production: Sune With, [email protected] Research Unit for Robophilosophy and Integrative Robotics: https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy

Skin is an expressive medium that communicates emotive states and identity.   When applied to social robots, skin becomes an aesthetic interface where robots actively enact a social presence. Hanna suggests an image-theoretical approach to robotic skin, understood as living images, that emphasises its pictorial and material potential to move beyond representational models that treat social expressiveness as mere imitation. She focus on two 2024 photos of biohybrid skin from the Biohybrid Systems Laboratory at the University of Tokyo––a combination of living human skin cells with robotic substrates. She contend that robotic skin––as a social actor––makes humans rethink the social status of robots, disrupting two key modes of human perception: our bodily boundaries and sense of time.Host and production: Sune With, [email protected] Unit for Robophilosophy and Intergrative Social Robotics: https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy

Elodie and her collegues argues that while methods like value-based design are indeed essential, there are challenges with their application. Risks connected to the unintended use of the technology are likely to be overlooked, and some risk mitigation strategies might not be accessible to robot designers. Lastly, the current system does not offer enough support or incentives to engage in a time-consuming although ethical process. However, there are measures that can be introduced to overcome those challenges and make progress towards responsible technology development.Host and production: Sune With, [email protected] Research Unit for Robophilosophy and Integrative Social Robotics:https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy

Whereas nature follows natural laws, humans follow both natural laws and human moral standards.  In all human communities we know, such standards guide individuals’ actions so they serve the interests of the community as a whole.  Moral standards include norms, values, rights, and institutions—and together they build the moral world humans live in.  When we imagine, and increasingly observe, robots taking part in this world, we face two major questions: What moral standards apply to robots?  And how can robots meet those standards?Host and production: Sune With, [email protected] Unit for Robophilosophy and Integrative Social Robotics:https://cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy 

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