SIROS 2017

Societal Implications of Robotics Symposium 2 (SIRoS2)

On March 30th, 2017 Brown University’s Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative hosted SIRoS 2 as a one day pre-conference to WeRobot. (Watch the videos here.)

About SIRoS2:

Rapid advances in robotic technologies in the military, medicine, education, and even private homes demand a careful examination of the potentially transformative impact of robotics on society. The transformation could be positive: providing access to services previously unattainable to many individuals; raising productivity; and enhancing safety and quality of life. But the transformation could also be negative: restricting access to services to only those who can afford or operate new technology; replacing whole segments of the human workforce; and endangering people’s psychological safety through deceptive attachments to robot partners. This symposium brought together scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines to examine the difficult questions: What are our obligations to shape this transformation to be positive? How can we contribute to such a positive shaping? And what legal and ethical norms may have to be established to foster a harmonious growth toward a future society with robots?

Location:

SIRoS2 took place at Brown University’s Smith-Buonanno Hall located at 95 Cushing Street, Providence, Rhode Island.

Workshop Features:

Panel: Getting Societal Benefits Right

Ernest Davis, New York University Computer Science

Milind Tambe, University of Souther California Engineering and Computer Science

Julie Shah, MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and CSAIL

bsp Talk: Selma Šabanović – “Developing policy for healthcare robots in the home: Learning from the case of telehealth”

Paper Authors: Selma Sabanovic, Indiana University Computer Science, Casey

Bennett, Faros Health, Inc, Jennifer Piatt, Indiana University Computer Science

Wendell Wallach – “Ethics and Governance of Robotics and AI”

Panel: Getting Law and Policy Right

Rebecca Crootof, Yale University Law School

Kate Klonick, Yale University Law School

David Weil, Brown University Economics

bsp Talk: Joshua Conrad Jackson – “The Rise of Robot Workers Makes People More Neighborly”

Paper Authors: Joshua Conrad Jackson, University of North Carolina Psychology;

Kurt Gray, University of North Carolina Psychology

Discussion

Gary Marcus, New York University Psychology and Uber

Commentator: Michael Littman, Brown University Computer Science

Panel: Getting Design Right

Claudia Rebola, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Industrial Design

Peter Haas, Brown University HCRI

Elizabeth Phillips, Brown University HCRI and Cognitive, Linguistic, and

Psychological Sciences

bsp Talk: Martina Raue – “Trust in Self-Driving Cars: The Need for Reaching

Women and the 50-plus Generation”

Paper Authors: Martina Raue, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AgeLab,

Carley Ward, Chaiwoo Lee, Lisa A. D’Ambrosio & Joseph F. Coughlin,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AgeLab

bsp Talk: Ayanna Howard – “The Ugly Truth About Ourselves and Our Robot

Creations: The Problem of Bias and Social Inequity”

Paper Authors: Ayanna Howard, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of ECE &

Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines; Jason Borenstein, Georgia Institute of

Technology, School of Public Policy & Center for Ethics and Technology

Panel: Getting Ethics Right

Bertram Malle, Brown University Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences

Maartje De Graaf, Brown University HCRI and Cognitive, Linguistic, and

Psychological Sciences

Peter Asaro, New School, School of Media Studies