Robotic attachments

Robotic attachments

As an ex-robotics student I was interested to read this account of life on the front line (in places like Iraq) for military robots and their operators. It seems that a lot of soldiers end up forming strong emotional attachments to their mechanical brothers in arms.

I can certainly relate. I myself worked with one particular robot for about a year, and we had plenty of time to bond. We had both good times and bad times. Once I almost smashed it against the wall when it refused to do as I ordered. At other times it was my pride and joy, paraded proudly in front of friends.

But perhaps being aware of the human tendency to rationalise and give purpose to inanimate objects also helped me to retain some perspective. I tried to disconnect myself emotionally each time I removed a body part. And I refused to name it precisely because I knew that, at the end of the research term, it would no longer be mine.

I can imagine many soldiers lacking this insight and easily falling victim to the charms of a military robot such as these. It doesn't matter whether the robot has a humanoid form or looks more like battered tins of tuna.

As the number of robots in households increases, we ought to carefully consider possible ethical dilemmas. The current debate about a code of ethics for robotics seems rather timely, raising questions of how robots should treat us as well as how we should treat them. Otherwise one day we might find ourselves incapable of making a rational decision concerning our new vacuum cleaner, all because it's begging us not to switch it off.

Magdalena Kogutowska, NewScientist intern.