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Killer Robots by
Military robots and other, potentially autonomous robotic systems such as unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) could soon be introduced to the battlefield. Look further into the future and we may see autonomous micro- and nanorobots armed and deployed in swarms of thousands or even millions. This growing automation of warfare may come to represent a major discontinuity in the history of warfare: humans will first be removed from the battlefield and may one day even be largely excluded from the decision cycle in future high-tech and high-speed robotic warfare. Although the current technological issues will no doubt be overcome, the greatest obstacles to automated weapons on the battlefield are likely to be legal and ethical concerns. Armin Krishnan explores the technological, legal and ethical issues connected to combat robotics, examining both the opportunities and limitations of autonomous weapons. He also proposes solutions to the future regulation of military robotics through international law.
Unmanned by
Drones have become the controversial new weapon of choice for the US military abroad. Unmanned details the causes and deadly consequences of this terrifying new development in warfare, and explores the implications for international law and global peace. Ann Rogers and John Hill argue that drones represent the first truly globalized technology of war. The book shows how unmanned systems are changing not simply how wars are fought, but the meaning of conflict itself. Providing an unparalleled account of new forms of twenty-first century imperial warfare, Unmanned shows how drone systems dissolve the conventional obstacles of time and space that have traditionally shaped conflict in the international system. It considers the possibility that these weapons will become normalized in global conflict, raising the spectre of new, unpredictable, and unaccountable forms of warfare.
Using Computer Science in Military Service by
Computers play an integral role in the military's primary goal, defending the nation and its interests, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Opportunities for computer science coding careers abound in weapons design, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, sophisticated drones, and the ever-evolving, and ever-important field of cyber warfare. This compelling, extensive book provides solid career guidance specific to the military's organization. It offers ideas for employment with civilian organizations that serve the armed forces' technology needs. It is perfect for readers who are considering both full-time and part-time service, whether for an entire career or limited tours of duty.
Wired for War by
In Wired for War, P. W. Singer explores the greatest revolution in military affairs since the atom bomb: the dawn of robotic warfare. We are on the cusp of a massive shift in military technology that threatens to make real the stuff of I, Robot and The Terminator. Blending historical evidence with interviews of an amazing cast of characters, Singer shows how technology is changing not just how wars are fought, but also the politics, economics, laws, and the ethics that surround war itself. Travelling from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to modern-day "skunk works" in the midst of suburbia, Wired for War will tantalise a wide readership, from military buffs to policy wonks to gearheads.
The books listed here are just some examples of the books you can find via Gordon Library and represent just a few of the topics you may want to research for this class. You can use WPI Library Search to find many books on a variety of topics.
Artificial Intelligence for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Applications by
This book addresses many applications of artificial intelligence in robotics, namely AI using visual and motional input. Robotic technology has made significant contributions to daily living, industrial uses, and medicinal applications. Machine learning, in particular, is critical for intelligent robots or unmanned/autonomous systems such as UAVs, UGVs, UUVs, cooperative robots, and so on. Humans are distinguished from animals by capacities such as receiving visual information, adjusting to uncertain circumstances, and making decisions to take action in a complex system. Significant progress has been made in robotics toward human-like intelligence; yet, there are still numerous unresolved issues. Deep learning, reinforcement learning, real-time learning, swarm intelligence, and other developing approaches such as tiny-ML have been developed in recent decades and used in robotics. Artificial intelligence is being integrated into robots in order to develop advanced robotics capable of performing multiple tasks and learning new things with a better perception of the environment, allowing robots to perform critical tasks with human-like vision to detect or recognize various objects. Intelligent robots have been successfully constructed using machine learning and deep learning AI technology. Robotics performance is improving as higher quality, and more precise machine learning processes are used to train computer vision models to recognize different things and carry out operations correctly with the desired outcome. We believe that the increasing demands and challenges offered by real-world robotic applications encourage academic research in both artificial intelligence and robotics. The goal of this book is to bring together scientists, specialists, and engineers from around the world to present and share their most recent research findings and new ideas on artificial intelligence in robotics.
Cognitive Robotics by
The current state of the art in cognitive robotics, covering the challenges of building AI-powered intelligent robots inspired by natural cognitive systems. A novel approach to building AI-powered intelligent robots takes inspiration from the way natural cognitive systems-in humans, animals, and biological systems-develop intelligence by exploiting the full power of interactions between body and brain, the physical and social environment in which they live, and phylogenetic, developmental, and learning dynamics. This volume reports on the current state of the art in cognitive robotics, offering the first comprehensive coverage of building robots inspired by natural cognitive systems. Contributors first provide a systematic definition of cognitive robotics and a history of developments in the field. They describe in detail five main approaches- developmental, neuro, evolutionary, swarm, and soft robotics. They go on to consider methodologies and concepts, treating topics that include commonly used cognitive robotics platforms and robot simulators, biomimetic skin as an example of a hardware-based approach, machine-learning methods, and cognitive architecture. Finally, they cover the behavioral and cognitive capabilities of a variety of models, experiments, and applications, looking at issues that range from intrinsic motivation and perception to robot consciousness. Cognitive Robotics is aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, balancing technical details and examples for the computational reader with theoretical and experimental findings for the empirical scientist.
Elements of Robotics by
This open access book bridges the gap between playing with robots in school and studying robotics at the upper undergraduate and graduate levels to prepare for careers in industry and research. Robotic algorithms are presented formally, but using only mathematics known by high-school and first-year college students, such as calculus, matrices and probability. Concepts and algorithms are explained through detailed diagrams and calculations. Elements of Robotics presents an overview of different types of robots and the components used to build robots, but focuses on robotic algorithms: simple algorithms like odometry and feedback control, as well as algorithms for advanced topics like localization, mapping, image processing, machine learning and swarm robotics. These algorithms are demonstrated in simplified contexts that enable detailed computations to be performed and feasible activities to be posed. Students who study these simplified demonstrations will be well prepared for advanced study of robotics. The algorithms are presented at a relatively abstract level, not tied to any specific robot. Instead a generic robot is defined that uses elements common to most educational robots: differential drive with two motors, proximity sensors and some method of displaying output to the user. The theory is supplemented with over 100 activities, most of which can be successfully implemented using inexpensive educational robots. Activities that require more computation can be programmed on a computer. Archives are available with suggested implementations for the Thymio robot and standalone programs in Python.
Mechatronics and Robotics by
The term "mechatronics" was coined in 1969, merging "mecha" from mechanism and "tronics" from electronics, to reflect the original idea at the basis of this discipline, that is, the integration of electrical and mechanical systems into a single device. The spread of this term, and of mechatronics itself, has been growing in the years, including new aspects and disciplines, like control engineering, computer engineering and communication/information engineering. Nowadays mechatronics has a well-defined and fundamental role, in strict relation with robotics. Drawing a sharp border between mechatronics and robotics is impossible, as they share many technologies and objectives. Advanced robots could be defined as mechatronic devices equipped with a "smart brain", but there are also up-to-date mechatronic devices, used in tight interaction with humans, that are governed by smart architectures (for example, for safety purposes). Aim of this book is to offer a wide overview of new research trends and challenges for both mechatronics and robotics, through the contribution of researchers from different institutions, providing their view on specific subjects they consider as "hot topics" in both fields, with attention to new fields of application, new challenges to the research communities and new technologies available. The reader of this book will enjoy the various contributions, as they have been prepared with actual applications in mind, along a journey from advanced actuators and sensors to human-robot interaction, through robot control, navigation, planning and programming issues. The book presents several state-of-the-art solutions, like multiple-stage actuation to cope with conflicting specification of large motion-spans, ultra-high accuracy, model-based control for high-tech mechatronic systems, modern approaches of software systems engineering to robotics, aand humanoids for human assistance. The reader can also find new techniques in approaching the design of mechatronic systems in some possible industrial and service robotics scenarios, with a particular attention for the interaction between humans and mechanisms.
Medical Robotics by
Medical robotics has significant potential for treating patients rapidly and comfortably. Surgical and rehabilitation robotic systems comprise a major portion of medical robots. Both types of robots have unique advantages that are continually improved upon day after day and year after year. This book critically examines the development and historical evolution of medical robotics with a particular focus on urologic robotic surgery.
Robotics by
Every day, robots become a bigger part of our lives. From the robots vacuuming our homes to self-scanning machines at the supermarket, robots do jobs faster than humans and often with fewer mistakes. This book takes a look at the amazing developments in robotic technology, from the early days of robots to the varied landscape of robotics we see today. Readers will learn the differences between robots being developed to look just like humans and the complex thinking machines designed to play chess or build cars, and explore the potential future robots have to change the world.
AI Ethics by
An accessible synthesis of ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence that moves beyond hype and nightmare scenarios to address concrete questions. Artificial intelligence powers Google's search engine, enables Facebook to target advertising, and allows Alexa and Siri to do their jobs. AI is also behind self-driving cars, predictive policing, and autonomous weapons that can kill without human intervention. These and other AI applications raise complex ethical issues that are the subject of ongoing debate. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible synthesis of these issues. Written by a philosopher of technology, AI Ethics goes beyond the usual hype and nightmare scenarios to address concrete questions. Mark Coeckelbergh describes influential AI narratives, ranging from Frankenstein's monster to transhumanism and the technological singularity. He surveys relevant philosophical discussions: questions about the fundamental differences between humans and machines and debates over the moral status of AI. He explains the technology of AI, describing different approaches and focusing on machine learning and data science. He offers an overview of important ethical issues, including privacy concerns, responsibility and the delegation of decision making, transparency, and bias as it arises at all stages of data science processes. He also considers the future of work in an AI economy. Finally, he analyzes a range of policy proposals and discusses challenges for policymakers. He argues for ethical practices that embed values in design, translate democratic values into practices and include a vision of the good life and the good society.
Ethics for Robots: How to Design a Moral Algorithm by
Ethics for Robots describes and defends a method for designing and evaluating ethics algorithms for autonomous machines, such as self-driving cars and search and rescue drones. Derek Leben argues that such algorithms should be evaluated by how effectively they accomplish the problem of cooperation among self-interested organisms, and therefore, rather than simulating the psychological systems that have evolved to solve this problem, engineers should be tackling the problem itself, taking relevant lessons from our moral psychology. Leben draws on the moral theory of John Rawls, arguing that normative moral theories are attempts to develop optimal solutions to the problem of cooperation. He claims that Rawlsian Contractarianism leads to the ¿Maximin¿ principle ¿ the action that maximizes the minimum value ¿ and that the Maximin principle is the most effective solution to the problem of cooperation. He contrasts the Maximin principle with other principles and shows how they can often produce non-cooperative results. Using real-world examples ¿ such as an autonomous vehicle facing a situation where every action results in harm, home care machines, and autonomous weapons systems ¿ Leben contrasts Rawlsian algorithms with alternatives derived from utilitarianism and natural rights libertarianism. Including chapter summaries and a glossary of technical terms, Ethics for Robots is essential reading for philosophers, engineers, computer scientists, and cognitive scientists working on the problem of ethics for autonomous systems.
Healthcare Robots: Ethics, Design and Implementation by
This study deals with an underexplored area of the emerging technologies debate: robotics in the healthcare setting. The author explores the role of care and develops a value-sensitive ethical framework for the eventual employment of care robots. Highlighting the range of positive and negative aspects associated with the initiative to design and use care robots, it draws out essential content as a guide to future design both reinforcing this study's contemporary relevance, and giving weight to its prescriptions. The book speaks to, and is meant to be read by, a range of disciplines from science and engineering to philosophers and ethicists.
The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics by
An investigation into the assignment of moral responsibilities and rights to intelligent and autonomous machines of our own making. One of the enduring concerns of moral philosophy is deciding who or what is deserving of ethical consideration. Much recent attention has been devoted to the "animal question"--consideration of the moral status of nonhuman animals. In this book, David Gunkel takes up the "machine question": whether and to what extent intelligent and autonomous machines of our own making can be considered to have legitimate moral responsibilities and any legitimate claim to moral consideration. The machine question poses a fundamental challenge to moral thinking, questioning the traditional philosophical conceptualization of technology as a tool or instrument to be used by human agents. Gunkel begins by addressing the question of machine moral agency: whether a machine might be considered a legitimate moral agent that could be held responsible for decisions and actions. He then approaches the machine question from the other side, considering whether a machine might be a moral patient due legitimate moral consideration. Finally, Gunkel considers some recent innovations in moral philosophy and critical theory that complicate the machine question, deconstructing the binary agent-patient opposition itself. Technological advances may prompt us to wonder if the science fiction of computers and robots whose actions affect their human companions (think of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey) could become science fact. Gunkel's argument promises to influence future considerations of ethics, ourselves, and the other entities who inhabit this world.
Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics by
Prominent experts from science and the humanities explore issues in robot ethics that range from sex to war. Robots today serve in many roles, from entertainer to educator to executioner. As robotics technology advances, ethical concerns become more pressing: Should robots be programmed to follow a code of ethics, if this is even possible? Are there risks in forming emotional bonds with robots? How might society--and ethics--change with robotics? This volume is the first book to bring together prominent scholars and experts from both science and the humanities to explore these and other questions in this emerging field. Starting with an overview of the issues and relevant ethical theories, the topics flow naturally from the possibility of programming robot ethics to the ethical use of military robots in war to legal and policy questions, including liability and privacy concerns. The contributors then turn to human-robot emotional relationships, examining the ethical implications of robots as sexual partners, caregivers, and servants. Finally, they explore the possibility that robots, whether biological-computational hybrids or pure machines, should be given rights or moral consideration. Ethics is often slow to catch up with technological developments. This authoritative and accessible volume fills a gap in both scholarly literature and policy discussion, offering an impressive collection of expert analyses of the most crucial topics in this increasingly important field.
Robot Ethics and the Innovation Economy by
This book provides an authoritative resource on the topic of intelligent robots, artificial intelligence and the ethical implications of these revolutionary innovations. It examines the moral and ethical problems that arise in relation to the development, design and use of intelligent robots, which are capable of autonomous or semi-autonomous decision-making. These problems might relate, for example, to medical robots, driverless cars, intelligent military drones, pedagogical robots, police robots, legal robots and many others. The main question addressed in this book is how we can understand, explain and apply the concept of ethics in relation to intelligent robots and artificial intelligence. In each chapter, the author examines a different aspect of this question. The author also questions how we can ensure that intelligent robots are of service to humans and under what conditions intelligent robots could become more ethical than humans. The book employs an original approach to examining this cutting-edge research question, combining different research areas, and offers a wealth of practical relevance and real-world examples, illustrated through vivid case studies. With its jargon free approach and a dedicated chapter on relevant concepts at the end, this book is also accessible to readers without prior knowledge on intelligent robots and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By providing a general account of this debate, and of the consequences of the innovations resulting from these trends, the book serves as an important contribution to the discussion and will find a natural readership among scholars and students of the innovation economy and those concerned with the ethical considerations arising in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution