Scope: The standard establishes a set of ontologies with different abstraction levels that contain concepts, definitions, and axioms which are necessary to establish ethically driven methodologies for the design of Robots and Automation Systems.
Need: Ethics is the new frontier for the development of products, systems, and services in the next decades. Considering Ethics during the design of Robotics and Automation Systems is an urgent task. Day by day, new machines and systems (in the broad sense) are being developed to help and assist humans in a myriad of activities. To guarantee their acceptability and their alignment with what their stakeholders expect, in terms of benefits and increase of human well-being, it is essential to consider applied ethics in the broadest sense by cross-pollinating expertise from philosophical and engineering backgrounds for this work.
This Standard is focused on more than only adopting rigorous safety and compliance standards. It also considers the needs and idiosyncrasies of individuals during the goods and services lifecycle in order to maximize the well-being of their users while minimizing possible negative impacts and unforeseen events.
This project focuses on the Robotics and Automation domain without considering any particular application or robot. Our intention is that this standard is used in multiple ways, for instance, during the development of Robotics and Automation Systems as a guideline; or as a reference “taxonomy” to enable a clear and precise communication among members from different communities that include Robotics and Automation, Ethics and correlated areas of expertise.