Oct. 7 (Portaltic/EP) –
a group of six autonomous robot manufacturerswhich includes Boston Dynamics, has promised not to assemble its creations, defending the beneficial use for society that these teams may have in the future.
Boston Dynamicsknown for the robot dog Spot, the robotic arm Stretch, and the humanoid Atlas, has teamed up with Agility Robotics, AWRobotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree to defend the benefits that the technologies they develop have for humanity and warn of the risks that their misuse can entail, including the incorporation of weapons.
“We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible places where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical problems“, picks up the open letter signed by the six companies.
Thus, they have pledged not to arm their robots nor to the software that enables advanced robotics, nor will they support others to do so. They extend this commitment to the review of the applications foreseen by the clients who acquire their technology, and to the exploration of technologies that contribute to mitigating or reducing these risks.
On the contrary, they see autonomous robots as “a great benefit to society” as co-workers in industry or at home. “We are excited about a bright future in which humans and robots work side by side to address some of the world’s challenges,” they say.
The open letter includes an appeal legislators and other players in the technology industry to also “similarly commit not to build, authorize, support, or enable the attachment of weaponry to such robots.”
