Ethical Mission Definition and Execution for Maritime Robots Under Human Supervision

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Authors
Brutzman, Don
Blais, Curtis L.
Davis, Duane T.
McGhee, Robert B.
Subjects
Autonomous vehicles
mission execution automata (MEA)
mission execution ontology (MEO)
robot ethics
Advisors
Date of Issue
2018-04
Date
Publisher
IEEE
Language
Abstract
Experts and practitioners have worked long and hard toward achieving functionally capable robots. While numerous areas of progress have been achieved, ethical control of unmanned systems meeting legal requirements has been elusive and problematic. Common conclusions that treat ethical robots as an always-amoral philosophical conundrum requiring undemonstrated morality-based artificial intelligence are simply not sensible or repeatable. Patterning after successful practice by human teams shows that precise mission definition and task execution using well-defined, syntactically valid vocabularies is a necessary first step. Addition of operational constraints enables humans to place limits on robot activities, even when operating at a distance under gapped communications. Semantic validation can then be provided by a Mission Execution Ontology to confirm that no logical or legal contradictions are present in mission orders. Thorough simulation, testing, and certification of qualified robot responses are necessary to build human authority and trust when directing ethical robot operations at a distance. Together these capabilities can provide safeguards for autonomous robots possessing the potential for lethal force. This approach appears to have broad usefulness for both civil and military application of unmanned systems at sea.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JOE.2017.2782959
Series/Report No
Department
Information Sciences (IS)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned System Education and Research
Funder
Format
17 p.
Citation
Brutzman, Don, et al. "Ethical Mission Definition and Execution for Maritime Robots Under Human Supervision." IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 43.2 (2018): 427-443.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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