MykytaIefymov

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Socialaspectsofrobotsfuture

Over the last decades, the significance of robots as a business line and research testbed has
risen considerably. In the early 1970s the first robots were already built and people were imagining
how far this could go. And now, looking back to the past we can see how people were predicting
robotics to develop and how far it has come. Robots are already used for production and technical
support, for household chores and entertainment. But still, there is auserspointofview.Anumberof
surveys was completed to assess peoples attitude towards robots and their purpose. Additionally,
people were asked about how they prefer robot companions to behave, look and interact with them.
Obtained results can be used for future studies and prototypes. So what is the social application of
roboticsandhowithasbeenassessedbyscientists?
In paper written almost 20 years ago, Pransky proposed several profiles of robots with their
advantages and disadvantages. The paper provides two different opinionsaboutrobotstoldbywoman
from future thatlivedin2013.Shestatesthatrobotssimplifylife,savealotoftimeanddoalotofuseful
service. Moreover, a robot companion provides allday security, schedules all household chores and
makes the agenda for family members, helps children to do homework and provides them with
everything they want. However, the ethical issue become crucial. Children accustomed to
communicating with robots but not with adults or other children. Allofasudden,thenarratorisjealous
of the robotic maid who takes her husbands attention andmakestheirrelationshipweaker.Toresolve

communicational and subsequent ethical issues, Pransky proposes using Asimov's Three Laws of
Robotics, or in other words, a relationship with robots should be similar to the relationship with pets.
But even that does not make the problems vanish, and it still is a concern to control and understand
socialaspectsofnewtechnologiesthatwillbecomeavailableinnearestfuture.
Childrens perception of robots were observed by Woods [2] with a questionnaire for
feedback from pupils from three schools inGreatBritain.Consideringviewsofchildrenonrobotsgives
more information for future studies and the implications of robotics. The survey was done to discover
how a robots appearance and a childs attitude towards it are related.Anumberofpicturesofrobots
were handed out and the pupils fulfilled the forms with answers for questions about human, animal or
machine likeness of the robot, if it looked sad or happy etc. Children were sure if robots had feelings
and could understand them. The results of the survey have shown relations between several robot
features and childrens reaction to the robot. For instance, robots that were found to be animallike
were considered to be happy, while humanlike robots had both sad and happy instances. Robots
classified as aggressive were characterized by having two legs or wheels for movement, rectangular
body, machinelike appearance andmalegender.Overallanimallikeandhumanlikerobotswererated
as the most friendly looking ones. The given results provide information about the attitude towards
different types of robots based on their appearance, so all the conclusions can be used for modelling
futurerobotstakingintoaccountthepointofviewofachild.
The work done by Dautenhahn et al [3] explored peoples perceptions and attitudes towards
the idea of using robot companions for different purposes. The results of the survey showed that the
acceptance of computers and related computing technologies was stillmuch higherthantheacceptance
of robots. Most of the people asked stated that robots should be controllable, predictable and
considerate. The minority were more open about behaviour of robots andleftmorefreedomforit.For
instance, young people were more optimistic about the idea of having robots as friends orevenmates.
As for the tasks required to be done by the robot companions, almost everybody (96,4%) picked
vacuuming jobs with security entertaining and gardening roles followed with around half of the
participants preferring this role. However, the attitude towards the idea of having a robot companion
taking care of children had almost no support. The survey investigated the importance of robots being

humanlike, and results showed that the likeness ofcommunicationwaspreferredto thoseofbehaviour

orappearance.
To conclude, a number of surveys have been carried out to gather informationaboutthesocial
appliance of robots. The most wanted roles for robot companions were found, as well as preferred
appearance, behaviour and communication. The moral issues involving future roles were listed and
pointed out from both the positive and the negative side. It wasshownthatgenerallytheacceptanceof
robots is higher among youngpeople.Moreover,thesurveydiscoveringchildrensattitudeaswell gives
more information. The questionnaires completed by children helped to classify robots as friendly,
aggressive, sad or happy. As Woods [2] has stated, most of the robots are designed by male adults
andthemoredifferentopinionsareknown,themoreaccessibleandefficientthefinalproductcanbe.

[1]J.Pransky,"Socialadjustmentstoaroboticfuture",AZ:SFRAPress,1995.Available:
www.robot.md/publications/sfra.html
[2]S.Woods,K.DautenhahnandJ.Schulz,"Thedesignspaceofrobots:Investigatingchildren's

views",13thIEEEInternationalWorkshop,pp.4752,2004.
[3]K.Dautenhahn,S.Woods,C.Kaouri,M.Walters,K.L.Koay,andI.Werry,"Whatisarobot
companionfriend,assistant,orbutler?",RoboticsSocietyofJapanInternationalConferenceon
IntelligentRobotsandSystems,2005.