Roboethics: Ethics Applied to Robotics [From the Guest Editors]

Abstract

This special issue deals with the emerging debate on roboethics, the human ethics applied to robotics. Is a specific ethic applied to robotics truly necessary? Or, conversely, are not the general principles of ethics adequate to answer many of the issues raised by our field's applications? In our opinion, and according to many roboticists and human scientists, many novel issues that emerge and many more that will show up in the immediate future, arising from the upcoming marketed robotics products, demand the development of new cultural and legal tools that can provide the crucial answers to the most sensitive questions.