Revisiting the Social Impact of Automation

On cost-effectiveness of human-centered and socially acceptable robot and automation systems

“…As shown, e.g. by Cernetic, Strmcnik and Brandt in a recent survey, 4 this perspective among other things, implies or requires:…”

“…More useful hints as to the particular benefits of such technology can readily be obtained from the references given in the mentioned survey. 4 However, one should point to a methodology of performing system justification that is able to consider appropriately the intangible benefits. Useful information in this respect is provided in the work of Ordoobady and Mulvaney, 10 Irani et al, 11 Riel and Imbeau, 12 as well as Gunasekaran et al 13 An interesting point in a balanced justification of humancentered and socially appropriate technology could be an analysis of potential risks of any failures or any other possibly harming consequences associated with improper use of new technology.…”

“…These were, in part, extracted from the conclusions of the recent IFAC Technical Board Working Meeting, 44 the Memorandum "Information and Communication" from the 2000 World Engineering Convention 45 (that is strongly connected to the recent work done within the IFAC Technical Committee "Social Impact of Automation" 46 ), as well as from some other sources. 16 Cernetic and co-authors in two recent publications, 4,47 give a short summary of these trends.…”

“…Such implications and requirements are mostly well covered within the human-centered and socio-technical systems design methodologies discussed in a number of references. 4 However, only little discussion is available about the question on whether human-centered and socio-technical approaches are affordable in developing cost-effective applications of robots and automation systems. Therefore the main message of this paper is the assumption that integrating human skills and capabilities in technical solutions for automation systems enhances their costeffectiveness for the users.…”

IFAC 2002 Milestone Report for the area “SOCIAL IMPACT OF AUTOMATION”

“…Due to space limitations, these three lines of trends cannot be reproduced here, so the reader may look for them in the survey paper by Cernetic, Strmcnik and Brandt (2002) that is properly complementing the statements given in this Milestone Report. Elaborated from these trends, the following is a brief extract of needs and challenges that deserve to be discussed and solved within this area in the future:…”