What legal rights should a robot have? Polo Sant'Anna Valdera is one of the leading research centres for robotics. As technology advances, its staff see this question as increasingly important. Innovation raises new legal and ethical issues. The European Parliament wants to address these issues so robotics continues to flourish in 2017.

technology

consumer protection

RoboLaw: Regulating robotics

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11394055/B01-ESN-170207INT-EN.srt

From industrial robots  to medical equipment,

robotics and artificial intelligence are  increasingly becoming a part of our daily life.

The European Parliament is  the first institution in the world

trying to legislate  on legal and ethical issues 

There is a huge revolution underway  because there are already many robots,

and there will be more  in the future, in all areas of life.

I've convinced the Committee  on Legal Affairs to set up a working party

to specifically focus on  the legal and ethical implications

an important centre for robotics,  is part of the European project Robolaw.

Here, researchers are studying  the question of robots' liability 

For them, the interest of   the European Parliament in such issues 

is positive and paves the way  for a new approach towards robotics.

The world of robotics is  a huge field,

you risk failing  to address the core issue.

Andrea Bertolini is  an expert in private law.

For him, robots are not  like any other product,

though current laws are applied to them.

Those laws were developed  having different kinds of devices in mind,

so the solutions they bring about may not  be the best solutions when it comes to robotics.

In case of an accident caused  by a robot,

a driverless car for example,  who is liable?

In principle, the driver no   longer has any responsibility,

so the question arises,  who is going to cover the insurance?

Is it the producer?  Is it the programmer? Is it the user?

This is a very complicated  and expensive question to answer.

It makes much more sense  to hold liable the party

that is the best placed to minimize  that cost and minimize that risk.

This is what I call  a "risk management approach".

In that scenario, I or the producer  could purchase an insurance

covering all costs associated  with that liability.

Not only are more and more autonomous  robots getting closer to the market,

but in laboratories,  engineers are designing robots

with the capacity  to learn from their environment,

their experience, and  to take independent decisions.

whether the programmer should always  be responsible for the action

because the environment will  have an influence on the robot.

a possible answer might be  to give that category of robots

Electronic personhood means  treating robots like a corporation,

a legal entity that has  some rights and obligations

that are purely instrumental to pursue  a specific economic interest of a human being.

Another major concern  for the European Parliament

is the ethical issues  raised by robotics.

Not least, the dependency relationship  that might develop between a human and a robot,

in particular in the case  of vulnerable people.

that vulnerable people  are not led to believe

capable of experiencing emotions,  which machines cannot have.

Finally, could legislating  on all these issues hamper innovation?

Quite the contrary, this could be  a driver for growth in the sector,

because having legal certainty will  encourage research and industrial development.

Developing standards is  of a strategic relevance

because those that will emerge,   they might become 

American standards, they  might be international standards.

If they are European standards,  it's clear that

European industries will  be at an advantage.

We are in a good time because  the Member States have not yet created legislation,

to serve as inspiration for  the Member States to establish rules

that will be applicable  throughout the European Union.