Bruno Siciliano

Ethics and robotics in the fourth industrial revolution The current industrial revolution, characterised by a pervasive spread of technologies and robotic systems, also brings with it an economic, social, cultural and anthropological revolution. Work spaces will be reshaped over time, giving rise to new challenges for human‒machine interaction. Robotics is hereby inserted in a working context in which robotic systems and cooperation with humans call into question the principles of human responsibility, distributive justice and dignity of work. In particular, the responsibilities for using a robotic system in a surgical context will be discussed, along with possible problems of medium- or long-term technological unemployment to be tackled on the basis of shared concepts of distributive justice. Finally, the multiple dimensions of human dignity in the working context are dealt with in terms of dignity of work, dignity at work and dignity in human‒machine interaction.

RoDyMan, acronym for Robotic Dynamic Manipulation, is a research project funded by the European Research Council to the CREATE Consortium and carried out at PRISMA Lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the University of Naples Federico II. The goal is the development of a service robot able to manipulate elastic and soft objects, which change continuously density and shape. These robots will be used not only in manufacturing but also as an aid to elderly or disabled people, for medical and surgical use, and in other manual activities. Preparing a pizza involves an extraordinary level of manual dexterity: for this reason a pizzaiolo robot has been conceived. It is also a tribute to Naples, at the forefront of technology, robotics and automation, but especially of culture and gastronomy, of which pizza is a symbol and tradition. Creating a robot able to manipulate objects like humans is one of the most sought and difficult challenges of robotics. It means to replicate skills that are the result of human biological and cultural evolution. This goal is arduous, mainly for two issues. First, we do not have a total knowledge of human nature, but this is the condition to be able to replicate the human functions in a machine. Second, there are many technical limits to implement a bio‐inspired robot, not the least those making it user‐friendly and aesthetically appreciated.