The 2017 Robot Ethics event took place on February 23rd at the IET Savoy Place. This year’s event focused on medical/surgical robotics and the ethical implications of their use. What are the degrees of autonomy of a medical robot? Is the company, the programmer, or the operator responsible for the robot’s performance? Can we program empathy on robots to make them feel guilty when they make a mistake? What regulations can governments impose to medical robots so that patient confidentiality, safety, and approved decision-making can be guaranteed?
These were the topics addressed by two noted researchers, Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang from the Hamlyn Centre of Imperial College London, and Dr. Catherine Easton from Lancaster University. Prof. Yang, a renowned researcher in medical robotics, indicated where we are in the evolution of autonomy in medical robotics. He demonstrated algorithms that can assist clinicians in their decision making, hinting that autonomy in robotics need not only come in the appearance of “manipulation”. He argued for the necessity of proper regulation, especially as more and more important decisions are taken by the autonomous agents.
Dr. Easton, a Senior Lecturer at Law at Lancaster University and expert in legal frameworks for robotics in medicine approached the problems of patient confidentiality and safety. She discussed the ethical foundations that require the imposition of regulations on medical robots, but also hinted that we, as humans, are sometimes judging behaviours based on their effect on us, rather than only objectively. Therefore, there is no easy way to quantify ethics and “success” in robot decision making, especially when human well-being is at stake. Dr. Easton noted the efforts of the EU and UK to create the necessary regulatory frameworks, so that our societies can be prepared for autonomous systems to join us.
Both speakers were filmed and will be available to view on IET.tv very soon so please keep checking back to watch those.
Questions from the audience entailed a critique on the lack of empathy from the side of the robotic surgeon, wondering how a device can understand the harm it has caused, or enjoy the outcome of a hard but successful intervention. Maybe one day we will consider autonomous medical robots with the same apathy as we are considering the autopilot of an airplane.
Christos Bergeles
Executive Committee member of the Robotics and Mechatronics TPN
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