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
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.