关键词： Robot   Robotics   Ethics   Machine ethics   Technology   Responsibility   Philosophy  

摘要： The task of this essay is to respond to the question concerning robots and responsibility-to answer for the way that we understand, debate, and decide who or what is able to answer for decisions and actions undertaken by increasingly interactive, autonomous, and sociable mechanisms. The analysis proceeds through three steps or movements. (1) It begins by critically examining the instrumental theory of technology, which determines the way one typically deals with and responds to the question of responsibility when it involves technology. (2) It then considers three instances where recent innovations in robotics challenge this standard operating procedure by opening gaps in the usual way of assigning responsibility. The innovations considered in this section include: autonomous technology, machine learning, and social robots. (3) The essay concludes by evaluating the three different responses-instrumentalism 2.0, machine ethics, and hybrid responsibility-that have been made in face of these difficulties in an effort to map out the opportunities and challenges of and for responsible robotics.

关键词： Responsibility   Robotics   AI   Human rights   Anthropocentrism   Man-under-the-loop  

摘要： As the aim of the responsible robotics initiative is to ensure that responsible practices are inculcated within each stage of design, development and use, this impetus is undergirded by the alignment of ethical and legal considerations towards socially beneficial ends. While every effort should be expended to ensure that issues of responsibility are addressed at each stage of technological progression, irresponsibility (meaning a lack of responsibility) is inherent within the nature of robotics technologies from a theoretical perspective that threatens to thwart the endeavour. This is because the concept of responsibility, despite being treated as such, is not monolithic: rather this seemingly unified concept consists of converging and confluent concepts that shape the idea of what we colloquially call responsibility. From a different perspective, robotics will be simultaneously responsible and irresponsible depending on the particular concept of responsibility that is foregrounded: an observation that cuts against the grain of the drive towards responsible robotics. This problem is further compounded by responsible design and development as contrasted to responsible use. From a different perspective, the difficulty in defining the concept of responsibility in robotics is because human responsibility is the main frame of reference. Robotic systems are increasingly expected to achieve the human-level performance, including the capacities associated with responsibility and other criteria which are necessary to act responsibly. This subsists within a larger phenomenon where the difference between humans and non-humans, be it animals or artificial systems, appears to be increasingly blurred, thereby disrupting orthodox understandings of responsibility. This paper seeks to supplement the responsible robotics impulse by proposing a complementary set of human rights directed specifically against the harms arising from robotic and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

关键词： Actuators   Polymers   Soft robotics   Surface cracks   Temperature measurement   Surface treatment   Pneumatic systems  

摘要： Healable soft robotic systems have been developed by constructing flexible membranes out of Diels-Alder (DA) polymer networks. In these components, relatively large amounts of damage, on the centimeter scale, can be healed, provided that the temperature is increased to 80-90 degrees C. This article presents a new DA polymer network that can heal at room temperature through a smart design of the network that increases the molecular mobility in the material. This new material is used to develop the first healable soft robotic prototype that can autonomously recover from severe, realistic damage. The soft pneumatic hand can recover from various types of injuries, including being cut completely in half, without the need for a temperature increase. After healing, the performance of the soft robotic prototype is recovered.

关键词： Food supply chains   Robotics and autonomous systems   Literature review  

摘要： Background. An increasing global population means resource utilisation and food security remain the critical global challenges. Robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) have been applied to improve productivity, and their role in enhancing supply chain operations is explored here. Scope and approach. Researchers have studied ways to adopt and integrate RAS into the food industry. However, most of the current literature focuses on the technological impact of RAS. In contrast, this paper discusses the adoption of RAS in the food industry from the supply chain perspective with regard to the supply chain operations. Key findings and conclusions. The study has selected 54 papers using a nine-step systematic review process. This research analysed the use of RAS across five major themes of the food supply chain, including food quality, food safety, food waste, supply chain efficiency, and supply chain analysis. The role of RAS the data availability, cybersecurity, skill capability, and financial costs are discussed in the context of adopting RAS in food supply chains. Future research directions are proposed with the aim of enhancing the application of RAS in food supply chain operations.

关键词： Substance use disorder   Reward positivity   Anterior midcingulate cortex   TMS   Decision-making   Cognitive control  

摘要： Background: Theoretical and empirical work suggest that addictive drugs potentiate dopaminergic reinforcement learning signals and disrupt the reward function of its neural targets, including the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC) and the basal ganglia. Here, we aim to use prefrontal 10-Hz TMS to enhance aMCC reward activity and reward learning by the basal ganglia in problematic substance users. Methods: 22 problematic substance users were randomized into an Active and SHAM (coil flipped) TMS group. We recorded the reward positivity-an electrophysiological signal believed to index sensitivity of the aMCC to rewards-while participants engaged in 4 blocks (100 trials per block) of a reward-based choice task. A robotic arm positioned a TMS coil over a prefrontal cortex target, and 50 pulses were delivered at 10-Hz before every 10 trials of blocks 2-4 (1500 pulses, 400 trials). Participants then completed a decision-making task that is diagnostic of striatal dopamine dysfunction. Results: The present study revealed three main findings. First, both groups failed to elicit a reward positivity during the first two task blocks. Second, applying robot-assisted TMS enhanced the amplitude of the reward positivity in the Active group, but not the SHAM group, across the last two task blocks. Third, the Active group performed relatively better at reward-based learning than the SHAM group. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that 10-Hz TMS is successful in modulating the reward function of the aMCC and basal ganglia in problematic substance users, which may have utility in the treatment of reward related neural dysfunction commonly associated with substance use disorders.

摘要： The paper entitled “Kinematics Model Identification and Motion Control of Robot Based on Fast Learning Neural Network” provided by Xuehong Sun introduces a new learning neural network structure, called fast learning neural network. The paper entitled “Adaptive PID Control of Multi-DOF Industrial Robot Based on Neural Network” provided by Jiyue Wang et al. establishes the functional relationship between control error and arrival degree to improve the control quality of industrial robots based on the core idea of fuzzy neural network algorithm. [...]the simulation results are validated with Khepera-IV mobile robot experiments and it is revealed that proposed algorithm is valid and feasible in the mobile robot path planning problems.

摘要： Information on space robotics is presented. The Mars 2020 mission launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in July with the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter headed to Mars to land in the Jezero Crater. Perseverance is based on the Curiosity rover but with several upgrades, adding about 50% more payload. Astronauts installed the Robotic Tool Stowage storage unit on the International Space Station during a spacewalk in July. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Exploration and In-Space Services, or NExIS, delivered RiTS to the ISS in December 2019. Two Robotic External Leak Locator tools are in the RiTS, which provides the RELLs with thermal and physical protection and allows them to be readily deployed by the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.

关键词： Sociable robots   Socially inspired robotics   Trusting robots   Capability approach  

摘要： Socially inspired robotics involves drawing on the observation and study of human social interactions to apply them to the design of sociable robots. As there is increasing expectation that robots may participate in social care and provide some relief for the increasing shortage of human care workers, social interaction with robots becomes of increasing importance. This paper demonstrates the potential of socially inspired robotics through the exploration of a case study of the interaction of a partially sighted social worker with a support worker. This is framed within the capability approach in which the interaction of a human and a sociable robot is understood as resulting in a collaborative capability which is grounded the relationship between the human and the robot rather than the autonomous capabilities of the robot. The implications of applying the case study as an analogy for human-robot interaction are expressed through a discussion of capabilities and social practice and policy. The study is attenuated by a discussion of the technical limits of robots and the extensive complexity of the social context in which it is envisaged sociable robots may be employed.

关键词： Roboethics   Roboticists   Dehumanisation   Lived ethics  

摘要： Over the past two decades, ethical challenges related to robotics technologies have gained increasing interest among different research and non-academic communities, in particular through the field of roboethics. While the reasons to address roboethics are clear, why not to engage with ethics needs to be better understood. This paper focuses on a limited or lacking engagement with ethics that takes place within some parts of the robotics community and its implications for the conceptualisation of the human being. The underlying assumption is that the term 'ethical' essentially means 'human'. Thus, this paper discusses a working hypothesis according to which by avoiding to engage with roboethics, roboticists contribute to the tacit dehumanisation process emerging in and outside of robotics. An alternative approach includes 'lived ethics' which involves not only incorporating formal ethical approaches into the roboticists' work but also 'being' ethical and actually engaging with ethical reflection and practice.