Raising Robots to Be Good: A Practical Foray Into the Art and Science of Machine Ethics

In 1941 Isaac Asimov famously introduced us to the idea of Robots with the ability to tell between right and wrong. However, as his stories go on to show, the ‘Laws of Robotics’ weren’t quite able to govern robots in a way that we would deem acceptable for humanity. In recent years, scientists have worked to try to understand how we might create robots with this capability – robots with morals – and as Robots and Artificial Intelligence Systems become more integrated into society and our lives, it seems that achieving this aim is as pertinent as ever.

This book introduces this pursuit, known as Machine Ethics, and aims to outline some of the art and science behind the field – including the philosophy, psychology and computer science that underpins much of the research into this area. After the necessary background, and an exploration of the problem, a new theory is proposed inspired how we might envisage moral agency developing in a child. The proposal is that we need to cultivate moral development in a robot, in pretty much the same way we might parent a child: Raising Robots to be Good.

Dr. Rebecca Raper is a robotics lecturer at Cranfield University and MK:U, in Bedfordshire, England. Prior to embarking on her academic journey into moral machines, she worked as an analyst across various sectors. She completed her undergraduate and master’s degree in philosophy, before moving into psychology and finally completing a PhD in Cognitive Robotics on the topic of ‘Kindness in Robots’ – forming the basis of this book. In her spare time she enjoys keeping active and exploring as much of the world as possible.