Hacking the Human Bias in Robotics

Howard, Ayanna M.; Borenstein, Jason

doi:10.1145/3208974

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Two recent papers[12,13] have drawn attention to the existence of "bias", including racial bias, in the data about human behaviour that is used to train AIs, for the behaviour of robots and to the ethical issues this raises for engineers. However, while undoubtedly important, this is a separate issue to the question as to whether people may be biased in their treatment of robots depending on the "race" of the robot.…”

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confidence: 99%

Do Robots Have Race?: Race, Social Construction, and HRI

Sparrow

2020

IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag.

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In a paper presented at HRI 2018, Bartneck and colleagues argued that people attribute race to humanoid robots. Our paper joined a (small) number of other papers in providing evidence that people attribute racial and/or ethnic identities to robots. In this essay, I want to offer some observations about what is at stake when we ask "do robots have race?" Drawing on resources from the philosophy of race, cultural studies, and media ethics, which may not be familiar to many readers of Robotics & Automation Magazine, I will argue that the discovery that robots have race that would pose unique ethical and political challenges to the project of building humanoid social robots given the historical associations between robots and slaves. Performing experiments to determine whether robots have race, informed by a proper understanding of the nature of race according to the latest scholarship, should therefore be a priority for the Human-Robot Interaction community.

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confidence: 99%

Do Robots Have Race?: Race, Social Construction, and HRI

Sparrow

2020

IEEE Robot. Automat. Mag.

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“…Unless actions are taken 12 , participants felt that RAS were likely to exacerbate existing inequalities by reinforcing pre-existing structural biases. Specifically, if artificial intelligence 45 , which is central to many RAS technologies, is trained on biased datasets and decisions are taken without human intervention, those biases and associated inequalities will be amplified 46 . There are promising ways to mitigate such threats via ensuring biases in datasets are adjusted for using more appropriate algorithms, however those are yet to be tested in the real world and rely on biases in training datasets being openly acknowledged, which is as yet not the norm 47 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meeting sustainable development goals via robotics and autonomous systems

et al. 2022

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Robotics and autonomous systems are reshaping the world, changing healthcare, food production and biodiversity management. While they will play a fundamental role in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals, associated opportunities and threats are yet to be considered systematically. We report on a horizon scan evaluating robotics and autonomous systems impact on all Sustainable Development Goals, involving 102 experts from around the world. Robotics and autonomous systems are likely to transform how the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved, through replacing and supporting human activities, fostering innovation, enhancing remote access and improving monitoring. Emerging threats relate to reinforcing inequalities, exacerbating environmental change, diverting resources from tried-and-tested solutions and reducing freedom and privacy through inadequate governance. Although predicting future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on the Sustainable Development Goals is difficult, thoroughly examining technological developments early is essential to prevent unintended detrimental consequences. Additionally, robotics and autonomous systems should be considered explicitly when developing future iterations of the Sustainable Development Goals to avoid reversing progress or exacerbating inequalities.

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“…What are the potential negative consequences of the robot? Consider whether the robot's use may result in perpetuating biases [8], socially isolating users, causing psychological, emotional, or social dependence, or hidden costs for maintenance, wireless infrastructure support, training, and outages [9].…”

Section: What Are the Limitations Of The Robot -What Can It Not Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%