Robotics and the Law: Towards responsible and sustainable adoption of industrial collaborative embodied autonomous systems in the case of digital manu

在工业4.0中，智能机器以数字方式相互连接--共享信息和自主决策。这一新的工业革命浪潮预计将使组织能够通过从根本上重组业务运营来加强其竞争优势，以提高生产率、降低风险和提高产品质量[1]。因此，工业4.0正成为学术界和企业界的热门研究课题。然而，行业4.0是一个相当宽泛的概念，它包含了多个层面。考虑到我的行业合作伙伴DigiTOP的兴趣，我有动力研究在数字制造中使用工业协作具体化自主系统。自1961年以来，机器人已被引入制造业[2]。然而，传统的工业机器人被关在栅栏后面，在安全协议上有严格的政策，比如传感器和系统，以防止机器人在工作时靠近人，并确保当人在一定范围内时，机器人自动停止。另一方面，协作式机器人(Cobots)被设计为与人类一起工作，这引发了超出当前工业机器人安全标准的突出问题。例如，将机器人隔离在带有多个传感器的笼子中作为一种安全措施不再适用。Cobots的安全挑战不能通过简单地安装标准的运动检测来克服；需要在编程到机器人中的决策标准中制定安全标准。由于Cobots向人类工人学习，该系统必须使机器人能够区分合意的行为和有害的行为，以便机器人只能复制适当的人类手势。因此，Cobots和人类之间的互动也创造了无休止的个人数据收集和处理的规范，这可能会挑战隐私原则。因此，这项社会法律博士研究的目的是研究数字制造背景下Cobots带来的法律、伦理和社会挑战。我们的目标是设计一个数字工具包，帮助企业以负责任的方式采用工业协作体现的自主系统。由于最终用户、技术人员和执法者为了有效应对挑战而进行协作是任务[4]，我的研究重点是了解不同利益相关者对在工作场所实施Cobot的紧迫关切。我采访了法律、政策制定、咨询、制造和机器人领域的15名专家。基于这项研究的发现，我起草了一个框架，展示了Cobots带来的不同潜在挑战之间的关系。该框架将作为帮助确定进一步评估现行法律的相关法律框架的基础。该工具包将借鉴我在博士学位中探索的不同概念。

In Industry 4.0 smart machines are digitally connected with one another - sharing information and making autonomous decisions. This new wave of industrial revolution is expected to enable organizations to strengthen their competitive advantage by fundamentally reconfiguring the business operations in order to improve productivity, reduce risks, and increase product quality [1]. Therefore, Industry 4.0 is becoming a popular research topic in both academic and business arenas. However, Industry 4.0 is a rather broad concept with multiple layers incorporated into the movement. Given the interest of my industry partner, DigiTOP, I am motivated to look into the use of industrial collaborative embodied autonomous systems in digital manufacturing.Robotics has been introduced to manufacturing since 1961 [2]. However, traditional industrial robots are kept behind barriers with strict policies on the safety protocols, such as, sensors and systems to prevent people from being in close proximity to the robot while it's working and to ensure that the robot automatically stops when people are within certain range. Collaborative robots ("cobots"), on the other hand, are designed to work alongside humans which raises prominent concerns beyond current industrial robot safety standards. For example, isolating the robot in a cage with multiple sensors as a form of safety measure is no longer applicable. The safety challenges with cobots cannot be overcome by simply installing a standard movement detection; there is a need for safety standards in decision-making criteria programmed into robots. Because cobots learn from human workers, the system must enable robots to distinguish desirable behaviours from harmful behaviours so that a robot can only replicate the appropriate human gestures. Consequently, the interactions between cobots and humans also create the norms of endless personal data collection and processing which can challenge the principle of privacy. Therefore, the purpose of this socio-legal PhD research is to examine the legal, ethical and social challenges posed by cobots within the context of digital manufacturing. The goal is to design a digital toolkit to help businesses uptaking industrial collaborative embodied autonomous systems in a responsible manner.As it is mandate for end users, technologists, and law enforcers to collaborate in order to effectively tackle the challenges [4], my research focuses on understanding of the pressing concerns from different stakeholders around the implementation of cobots in the workplace. I have interviewed 15 experts in the area of law, policy making, consultancy, manufacturing, and robotics. Based on the finding of this study, I drafted a framework showing the relationship of the different underlying challenges posed by cobots. The framework will be used as the basis to help determine the relevant legal frameworks for further evaluation of the current law. The toolkit will draw on different concepts explored in my PhD.