The Ethical Robot
From: University of Connecticut - 11/08/2010
By: Christine Buckley and Bret Eckhardt 

University of Connecticut professor Susan Anderson and University of Hartford
computer scientist Michael Anderson have programmed a robot to behave
ethically. Their work is part of a relatively new field of research known as
machine ethics. "There are machines out there that are already doing things
that have ethical import, such as automatic cash withdrawal machines, and
many others in the development stages, such as cars that can drive themselves
and eldercare robots," says Susan Anderson. Machine ethics combines
artificial intelligence with ethical theory to determine how to program
machines to behave ethically. The robot, called Nao, is programmed with an
ethical principle that determines how often to remind people to take their
medicine and when to notify a doctor when they do not comply. "We should
think about the things that robots could do for us if they had ethics inside
them," says Michael Anderson. Interacting with robots that have been
programmed to behave ethically could inspire humans to behave more ethically,
says Susan Anderson. 

Read the entire article and view a video at:
http://today.uconn.edu/?p=24249

Links:
Making Robots Ethical
http://new.hartford.edu/stories/robot.aspx

Nao Robot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nao_%28robot%29

Robot Speaks the Language of Kids
http://today.uconn.edu/?p=17523

Robot Be Good
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=robot-be-good