Peer Evaluation Assessment and PowerPoint Presentation

Running head: HONDA’S ASIMO 0

Honda’s ASIMO

Stephanie A. Owens

D40551129

DeVry University

Abstract

Honda has created a personal home robot that they call ASIMO. ASIMO stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. Their mission for creating a robot was to be able to assist the elderly and people with disabilities in doing things like daily chores. With this goal Honda wanted to create a robot with viable mobility that would allow it to help and live in harmony with people. To do so they needed it to be able to function in society, move like a human, maneuver around obstacles, and have the ability to walk/run on uneven grounds, clime up and down stairs, hold trays, and many other tasks needed to live in harmony with humans. Honda took 19 years to develop ASIMO and it has since then impacted many areas of human life, it’s impacted the way we think, the ways we live, and other aspects of our lives that we may not realize. The development of robotics has raised some ethical issues such as the use of robots in the military, robots in the workforce, potential invasion of privacy, and questions about robot rights. Honda’s ASIMO is drawing attention and provoking potential controversies due to it’s immersive and abrupt presence in the owners life.

Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Table of Contents 3

Honda’s ASIMO 4

Historical Timeline and Predecessor Assessment 6

Historical Timeline 7

Analysis of Impact 13

Social Impact 13

Ethical Implications 30

References 42

Honda’s ASIMO

If you are not up to date on the new emerging technologies, like self-driving cars, you may not have heard about Honda’s robot that they call ASIMO. Robots have, for a long time now, been a discussion and interest to many people. Many people want robots to help them do things like daily chores, or assisting people in need, such as the elderly or disabled. ASIMO can do exactly that, it is designed to "duplicate the complexities of human motion and genuinely help people”(Honda, 2016). One issue to this astonishing technology is its potential problems such as bugs and glitches. This is a huge issue when developing new technology and could cause people to worry about their privacy or cause them to fear potential harm to them and their family. Honda’s ASIMO is drawing attention and provoking potential controversies due to it’s immersive and abrupt presence in the owners life.

ASIMO resembles a small child standing at 4 feet tall, is very durable, and is lightweight. This robot has a backpack, which is where the battery is stored and it, shows three lights indicating battery status. He is highly intelligent and is able to do simple functions such as "turn on a light switch, open doors, carry objects and push carts”(Honda, 2016). ASIMO’s has opposable thumbs similar to humans, which helps him carry odd-shaped objects; “he can carry 10 oz. in each hand, and up to 2.2 lbs. using both hands”(Honda, 2016). It has a "Kinesthetic Force Sensor that senses the direction and detects people's movements through visual sensors in its head and force in its wrists to accommodate the person it is attending”(Honda, 2016). This allows him to do humanly actions like shaking peoples hands, freely moving carts, and is able to synchronize with a person to accurately receive or hand over trays without spilling. ASIMO can achieve stable running, without slipping, and take on complex tasks such as going up or down stairs or navigating a slope. He is highly responsive allowing for flexible and rapid movements while identifying obstacles and then selecting a different route to prevent collisions, without stopping or guidance from someone. He can even detect obstacles that he cannot see due to his sensors. This new technology has amazing features that allow it to "move to an indicated location, recognize hand movements, and distinguish between registered faces”(Honda, 2016). For these specific features he can perform actions such as, “recognizing when it’s name is called, and turn to face the source of the sound; looking at the face of the person speaking, and respond; as well as, recognizing sudden, unusual sounds, such as that of a falling object or a collision, and face in that direction”(Honda, 2016). Overall this robot is fully designed to help people around the house that can be extremely helpful for the elderly or disabled.

As incredible and helpful this robot sounds, there is a lot of controversy about letting robots into our homes. Most people that are resistant to home robots are scared of robots functioning out of control and turning on the owners. This fear is mainly due to Hollywood movies depicting robots as helpful creations that malfunction and become harmful, such as the terminator and I robot where one day the robots are under control and doing what it is suppose to do then, what seams to be out of nowhere, start to turn on the people who created them. ASIMO's eyes are cameras that use Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). This allows him to recognize a persons face and biometric profile that is as unique as a fingerprint. For this reason some consumers might find this to be invasive as they would always have a camera on them, developing paranoia that a hacker could hack into this program and then would be able to spy on them. Though this is a valid concern it may also help in cases where a camera is needed or may be helpful. For example, if someone broke into your home while you are sleeping and AMISO was there to see the intruder then his FRT could be used to identify the intruder. With this emerging technology, if the robot is used to help elders, then a feature where emergency services can be contacted immediately if the robot detects there is something wrong with that person could save their life. Accordingly, there are many concerns for this emergent technology that is causing resistance and controversies of the security to allow this robot in their home.

Honda wanted to make an innovative robot that could work and function in society. Under the history section of the companies website it describes the development of ASIMO. It’s goal and mission of the project, as they state on their company website, was to "create a robot that has viable mobility that would allow it to help and live in harmony with people”(Honda, 2017). Honda’s robot that they call ASIMO is designed to help people do things like daily chores, or assisting people in need, such as the elderly or disabled. They wanted to make a humanoid robot that could do the same simple function has a human. They quickly found out that the simple functions we do were not so simple to recreate, as they first had to discover how to get the robot to walk. Then with the concept the robot would have to know how to maneuver around obstacles, clime up and down stairs, and walk on uneven ground, which is why their first realization was that it would have to have two legs to achieve these goals. With Honda’s ambitious goals the development of ASIMO has a long history that started from the creation of a two-legged robot.

(Club Robotik Surya University, 2016)

Technology Influence

Honda needed to create a two-legged robot that could walk. So they started with that idea to developed a technology that resembled two legs and could walk. This idea of a robot that could walk by putting one leg before the other forced Honda to look at all forms of walking to decide that this was the most appropriate for the goal they were trying to achieve. This would be a challenge, as they also wanted the robot to be able to walk on uneven ground and around objects on a room. Though with lots of research and experiments they were able to create their first robot called E0, which was not able to do half the things that ASIMO can do today.

Model E0. E0 was a basic robot that was not able to do much of what their mission and expectations were for this project. However, this was the beginning stage and the start of a revolution that would change lives. This model was extremely slow, taking "five to twenty seconds to complete each step forward”(ASIMO, 2017), and could only walk in a straight line. This was not efficient as the idea of this type of walking relied on the body's center of gravity being over the soles of the feet. E0 used static walking which is when "both feet start on the ground together, then as the next step is taken, the robots center of gravity gradually moves to one foot, until it supports the whole body weight before taking the next step”(ASIMO, 2017). This form of walking is not like how humans walk and takes too much time in-between steps. Humans do not wait until they’re balanced on one foot to take the next step. Static walking is a good idea when walking in a straight line on an even surface yet, when walking fast and to achieve the goal of allowing the robot to walk on uneven surfaces, Honda had to figure out a way to allow the robot to move smoothly and swiftly without having the center of gravity always over the soles of the feet.

Model E1, E2, and E3. The next generation of robots focused more on its efficiency in walking. With their discovery and success of E0 having the skill to walk, they were able to recognize the flaws of that model and look for ways to improve them. Honda studied more on human walking, the movement, and location of the joints of humans, as well as other forms of movement, to determine what is necessary to achieve the fast pace roaming on uneven ground. With this research they developed a model that could move more like a human, E1 prototype introduced the idea of dynamic walking which is when “people take a step forward, and get off balance, but right before losing balance, people throw the other foot ahead for support”(ASIMO, 2017). This type of maneuvering allowed Honda to create a robot that could walk smoothly and swiftly to a destination. The next model, E2, was the first fast walking robot that moved at "1.2km/h mimicking human steps”(ASIMO, 2017). This was significantly faster then the first two models however Honda wasn’t satisfied with this pace ether. So with the success of the faster walking robot they designed an even faster model. The E3 model created thicker legs to resemble thighs that allowed it to move even faster then previous prototypes. After this model, with more observation of human walking, Honda realized that we don’t just move our legs to walk but we also incorporate our "hip, spine, arms, shoulders, and hands, which all have to move in sync together”(ASIMO, 2017), in order for us to be able to maneuver without falling down. E1, E2, and E3 focused on developing legs that could simulate the walk of a human. This created a whole new idea for the next generation.

Model E4, E5, and E6. The next series of Honda robots stabilized its movements and started its goal in being able to clime stairs and function in society. With the development of E3 Honda discovered a new aspect of walking that they did not incorporate in earlier models. This started a new prototype that had more stability. Previous models helped Honda discover that the feet needed a new design, so E4 was more unlikely to slip and stumble. This made the robot more capable to walk faster. The creation of the E5 model was able to overcome the disadvantages of E4 and helped the engineers figure out how to allow the robot to walk up and down an incline. Once they discovered that, they moved on to discover how to get it to climb stairs, which is exactly what E6 did. So with this better leg control and movement designed, Honda then moved on to the next challenge of creating an upper body to allow it to look more like a humanoid robot.

Model P1, P2, and P3. With walking established Hondas next goal was to focus on attaching an upper body with arms and a head. The P1 model was the first prototype to have an upper body that resembled more of a human but looked rather rugged. This model was big “standing at 6 foot 2 inches and weighing 386 lbs.”(ASIMO, 2017). P1 had the success of creating a human looking model that was as big as the average man, which helped in the design and development of P2. After the creation of the humanoid robot, the P2 had a more friendly design and was the first model that could independently walk on two legs. This humanoid was still fairly large "standing at 6 foot and weighing 463 lbs.”(ASIMO, 2017). The P2 model could also walk on unstable surfaces, up stairs, and could “even maintain balance when pushed while standing”(ASIMO, 2017). This was a new revolution that was able to achieve the companies mission for this project, though they still had some issues to smooth out. Engineers knew that the height and weight of the robot was not adequate and they needed to make it smaller so it could be capable of living in harmony with humans. With that in mind Honda then created the P3 model, which was significantly smaller then previous prototypes “standing at 5 foot 2 inches and weighing 287 lbs.”(ASIMO, 2017). This was a whole foot shorter then the first humanoid robot and about half the weight of the P2 prototype. It was also able to walk smoother and hold its balance better then previous models, accommodating the ability to live in harmony with people. It was these prototypes that were able to shift Honda’s idea into making ASIMO.

ASIMO. The first version of ASIMO was released in October of 2000. This model again was significantly smaller then any previous prototype. This model stood at four feet which is a convenient height for working at tables and computer stations because its the size of an average adult sitting down, its also the level of the average light switch and doorknobs. ASIMO was the first humanoid robot to be able to make sharp turns and maneuver around objects smoothly and quickly. This model also improved on its ability to walk up and down stairs as well as several of other surfaces. Honda had successfully reached its goal in creating a robot that could move like a human allowing it to help and function in society, but they did not stop there. The new ASIMO was released in December 2005; this model featured more advancement in movement allowing it to walk at "2.7km/h, and can run in a straight line at a top speed of nearly 6km/h”(ASIMO, 2017). This robot is even able to change direction while running and enhanced its ability to communicate with people using facial recognition to recognize familiar faces. So ASIMO can now function in society, move like a human, maneuver around obstacles, can help assist people, and has the ability to walk/run on unstable grounds, climb stairs, hold trays, and many other tasks needed to live in harmony with humans.

ASIMO has come a long way since its prototype E0 in 1986. ASIMO is now demonstrated around the world though this isn’t the last version of this robot. Honda continues to look for ways to improve this robot, as its goal now is to help people in need such as elders or people in wheelchairs. It is their hopes that one day “ASIMO can perform certain tasks that are dangerous to humans, such as fighting fires or cleaning up toxic spills”(ASIMO, 2017). The advancement in technology and in the development in robots could significantly help people. Developing a robot that can withstand environments that humans cannot, could be useful in many dangerous situations and may even be introduced into the government to provide more safety to citizens. ASIMO is already an incredible invention and the future of this technology seems to only be more astonishing. This incredible technology would not exist however if it wasn’t for the initial thought and the 10 prototypes before ASIMO was created.

The Development of ASIMO has impacted the world in so many ways. It’s impacted the way we think, the ways we live, and other aspects of our lives that we may not realize. This inspirational technology of a humanoid robot that can do many remarkable tasks that humans can is designed to impact the world in more ways that it has to date. The Future of robotics has optimistic goals of improving the lives of millions. Honda engineers work hard toward this goal with every new innovation and design of ASIMO. This section will discuss the social, cultural, political, economic, and the environmental Impact that ASIMO has shaped.

ASIMO has made an impact socially in many ways. Just as Honda states on their website, "Honda engineers work every day to find new and innovative ways to use robotics to help society”(Honda, 2017). So ASIMO is designed to hopefully impact society in a useful and positive way. The technology has been accepted for its ability to help those in need such as the disabled and the elderly however some people are skeptical of it because it has the potential to replace humans’ jobs. Just as Martin Ford, an entrepreneur who has over 25 years experience in computer design and software development, says in his Huffington Post article, Honda’s ASIMO Robot — A Future Job Killer?, "The technology implies that millions of jobs will be at risk in areas like stocking shelves in supermarkets and other retail stores, moving materials in stores and warehouses, and providing security in a variety of settings”(Ford, 2012). In other words if ASIMO is as helpful as it is developed to be and continues to become more helpful, then humans could be replaced in jobs by this technology. For this reason ASIMO is feared by some people who see this as a potential reality. People feel threatened that robots can replace labor jobs like line cooks and security as it could increase efficiency. ASIMO is designed to help those in need like elderly and disabled so it would also replace the caregiver jobs because can do the job. Companies would rather invest in robots because it would save them money in labor. Additionally, the more robots in the labor force, taking away jobs, will create a lack in jobs making more people unemployed and potently putting the economy in another depression. On the other side with robots taking away jobs it opens up new fields in the workface, as people will have to be trained on how to fix and maintain the robots. So where jobs are lost other jobs are gained, there will be a high demand for skilled workers who know how to fix the robots. Be that is as it may, the general idea of ASIMO has developed and exciting and positive attitude and continues to be the case as the technology changes and advances. However, there is a lot of controversy about letting robots into our homes. Another major reason this technology is feared is due to the idea that it is an invasion of privacy. The robots eyes are cameras that allow him to recognize faces. This leads to reasonable concerns that a hacker could hack into ASIMO’s system and be able to see what it has recorded. For this reason people feel that having a robot like this in their home could be an invasion of privacy while others thinks of the advancements that the robot could bring to someone’s home.

The developers try to sell the technology by presenting it in several of places, "Honda demonstrates ASIMO around the world to encourage and inspire young students to study the sciences.”(Honda, 2017). They show an audience when ASIMO can do in order to get more people to know about this technology and find it helpful and safe to have around the house. Many people are astonished by this advanced technology. ASIMO is able to do many amazing things but some of the incredible things it’s programed to do is recognize faces so it is able to communicate with you by name as well as the ability to gather information said at once which is something a human can not do well. For instance, if ASIMO asked a room fill of ten people what they wanted to eat and all ten people said different things at the same time, ASIMO is able to interpret that and even repeat back what each individual said they wanted. This is why some people are excited about this emerging technology however others fear this idea will eventually replace jobs. That claim is reasonable because if you have a robot that can take orders at once and get them correct and then you have an human who has to take each order separately to make sure they get what they want correctly then a company might choose the robot for faster and more efficient service. On the other hand, some companies may find that robots diminish human interaction and the quality of customer service. This technology has a lot of potential for making a huge impact on peoples lives however at the development it’s at right now, it has not yet impact the common persons life. For that reason, there are no clear behavioral changes due to this technology. Nonetheless, it has steered up some major controversies that have people feeling mixed about the advancement of this technology. With that said, as of right now ASIMO has only affected people’s behavior and their thoughts of acceptance or rejection about this emerging technology. Although this is the case right now, ASIMO has the potential to greatly impact the human mind. Some people perceive the abilities of robots to be helpful and think they will greatly improve society making human lives easier. Others look past its helpfulness and see the potential hazard of the robots abilities. Both sides have valid points, Some people encourage the change but feel that there is a line where being dependent on robots could end badly. The advancements of robots are shaping peoples minds to either be for the change or hesitant about the change. In fact engineers are working on a feature that would directly impact the human mind, as it would use the mind to help give demands. "Honda Research Institute, has demonstrated a Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) that enables a user to control an ASIMO robot using nothing more than thought by wearing a headset containing both electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors”(Blain, 2009). This experiment is illustrated below:

So as of right now they have developed a technology that when attached to wires a human can dictate commands without speaking, only using the brains wave length to understand the command. This however could be a start to a whole new technology, eventually they may be able to program robots to read minds which could help with disabled people with high brain function but can’t talk or have a hard time communicating by talking. If engineers have a success with this feature, then human interaction will greatly be impacted by this change because it would give a whole new way to communicate. For instance, if someone is in a coma and has high brain activity, where they can’t talk but they can hear others and understand what they are saying, this technology could be used to help the person talk through ASIMO. ASIMO could break communication barriers between those who are disabled or in situations where they can’t communicate by talking, and if ASIMO learns more languages, it could even brake communication barriers between those who speak different languages.

This type of technology has the potential to meet safety needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Because ASIMO is designed to help people it may cause a sense of protection, security, and stability. This technology also has the potential to be used in cases of a robbery where the robots recording of the incident could help authorities identify the offender. The technology could also eventually have a feature where, in an incident when assisting elderly, if the robot detects that there is something wrong with their owner then it could call an ambulance for help. Though at this time ASIMO can not do these things, those features combined with the features it already has could help meet the safety needs that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes. ASIMO could also meet Self-Actualization needs as someone who ones this type of technology could feel a sense of accomplishment and due to its price, owning this technology could show status, which ultimately will develop a sense of self-fulfillment. So this technology fulfills more of a persons wants and has a long way to go in order to fulfill ones needs, but the idea of it being able to help people who need it could definitely increase a persons safety needs. With that said, at this time the only organizations that have this technology is Honda and Disney. Honda uses ASIMO around their office to help recognize and develop changes to improve the technology. Because of this they have discovered that the robot is really good at detecting peoples voices and taking orders from multiple people at once. "Coordination between visual and auditory sensors enables ASIMO to simultaneously recognize a face and voice, enabling ASIMO to recognize the voices of multiple people who are speaking simultaneously, which is difficult even for a human being to accomplish”(Honda, 2011). At Honda, ASIMO is used to help around the office, which has increased productivity. Disney, on the other hand, has discovered a whole different use for this incredible technology. Disneyland in California has made a stage show just for ASIMO. The science shows lasts 15-minutes, which is when "Visitors to Disneyland gain insight into the not-too-distant future when humanoid robots will assist humans in their homes. The demonstration shows how ASIMO would operate in a modern home environment by using all of its unique technological capabilities”(Clark, 2007). This show has been seen by more than 500 million people and continues to be seen, as this is a permanent home for ASIMO. So Disney has developed a way to use this technology to show many people the technology and has gained profit for doing so. Consequently Honda and Disney have benefited by the use of this technology and the results have been very supportive.

This technology was designed to help people and has since increased its ability to do so, among his ability to communicate with those who are hearing impaired through sign language. Society is the main factor for the change in this technology as its goal is to be able to live in harmony with humans. So as society changes the technology must grow with those changes. Engineers are working on developing features that will allow him to withstand environments that humans can not in order to help in crucial situations that are not safe for humans. Still, with the changes ASIMO has to make in order to function in society, it has not yet changed society as this technology has a long ways to go in order to make it affordable for people and allow it to function in ones home. Because the price of the technology is so high, a person in the middle class or lower would not be able to afford this robot. So this would indicate that only the upper class could integrate this technology into their lives as of right now. Additionally, with the statistics of men being into cars and other technologies like that, it would be no surprise that they would be more open about this idea. Where as statistically, women may be more skeptical. Society norms may also not accept ASIMO right away either as communicating with a robot that can walk and talk is a new aspect to the society. Along with that is the controversy over the technology that could cause some issues to occur with the norms and personal morals. Accordingly the mix feeling about robots and the emerging technology has affected society in different ways.

Cultural Impact

Robots have extremely effected and impacted the Japanese culture. Their way of life, customs, and society has changed with the introduction of robots and the advancements of robot technology. Japanese culture is working really hard to accomplish technology of robots that act like human in hopes to have them live in harmony with people and help in specific situations. Just as stated in Specific Impact and Effects of Robotics in Japan’s Culture and Systems Essays, “Japanese robotics have not only served as a dependable means for bettering their quality of life, but more importantly, both the culture and race has relied on a planned design of robots to take a significant role in every aspect of Japanese life and living, which is realistically attainable with the continuing progress”(GraduateWay, 2009). In the image below you can see the impact Robotics have on each culture:

So it is clear that Japanese culture has consumed themselves with the idea of robotics, and humanoid robots, to help in everyday lives and live with humans in society.

The advertising for the technology does not use any celebrities or stars or heroes, it does discuss the values of the culture and how the development of this technology will help us in the future. The development of this technology is at a high priority in Japanese culture and continues to encourage children in that culture to also be interested in this field of work. They are innovative and extremely focused on making history with technology. ASIMO stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. This name was developed because that is what it was intended to do. The goal of developing ASIMO was to create a robot that could walk, talk, and live with humans in everyday lives.

There are many words that have been added to our vocabulary from this technology. These words include Smart Machines, robot, robotics, humanoid, Sensor, Domain, Knowledge Engineer, Pattern Recognition, and many other technical terms associated with robots. One of the first peace of literature was a play written by Karel Capek called R.U.R, (Rossum’s Universal Robots). This was also the same time that the word robot was introduced "to describe an artificial person. Capek invented the term, basing it on the Czech word for “forced labor.” (Robot entered the English language in 1923.)”(Wired, 2011). There are also many books, short stories, poems, plays, TV shows, and films about robots. Some of these have positive views on the technology and some have off-putting views. For instance Hollywood movies, such as the terminator and I robot, depicted robots as helpful creations that malfunction and become harmful, where the robots one day out of nowhere, start to turn on the people who created them. These forms of literature that depict robots do not talk about ASIMO specifically, however. So even though these stories have created reasonable doubts of the technology, engineers are working hard to ensure the ASIMO does nothing but good and helpful things.

ASIMO is displayed in Japan's major science center located in Tokyo, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Here he shows visitors all the amazing tasks he can do. This robot also travels the world and has shown millions of people his talents. The development of ASIMO shows a beautiful creation that mankind has made. This astonishing technology is so intelligent and useful that is has created a whole new form of science, education, and jobs. It has inspired many people to look into this field of work that has helped the advancement of this technology. As discussed before Disney made a show just to demonstrate ASIMO's incredible abilities. ASIMO has also been introduced to some important people such as President Obama who seemed amazed by the technology and interested to learn more. ASIMO was even on the Kelly and Michael show demonstrating it’s unique abilities. However is seems as though most uses of the robot as of right now is just demonstrations not many companies or people use this type of technology but in the future it is planned to hopefully be in every home. The creativity needed in order to build a functioning robot takes a high level of patience, understanding, and education. The sleek look, height, and weight of ASIMO compared to earlier versions of Honda’s humanoid robots also relates to the concepts of beauty. So the development and continuing redesigns of this technology relates to the concepts of beauty and novelty, and human creativity in many remarkable ways. The development of a humanoid robot that can mimic the same movements and reactions as humans do is the way people can express their humanity through this technology. The Japanese culture of robotics has changed the world of technology, robots like ASIMO have two legs, two feet, two arms, two hands, ten fingers, a torso, a head, and two eyes which are all the features of a human. ASIMO can talk, walk, carry trays, pour drinks, turn on light switches, balance on one foot, and even kick a ball, again all tasks that humans can easily do. ASIMO is designed to help people who cannot easily do these tasks and may need some assistance doing things like pouring a drink or turning on a light switch. So ASIMO can be there to help those who need it. With that said the future of ASIMO will be able to do way more then just help those who need it such as elderly or disabled, ASIMO will eventually be a friendly companion that could be in every home.

Political Impact

Some of the legal issues that have arrived due to this emerging technology covers faults and blames as well as privacy issues. As robotics business review discusses in their article Robots and the Law: Introduction, "Our existing regulatory and legal frameworks are being stretched by emerging robot technologies. Laws from assigning liability when a robot malfunctions to personal privacy issues arising from the use of domestic care robots, have been developed”(RBR, 2012). For this same reason, "Governments are beginning to think about and act upon developing ethical guidelines, regulations, and legislative mechanisms that will guide the development of commercial robotics over the coming decade and beyond”(RBR, 2012). Considering this technology has made lot of people anxious these laws are put in place to ease these worries and help ensure we stay a functioning society.

Robots are also being considered into the military however there is huge controversy as this could go against many people’s ethics and some social responsibility. It is asked by many societies that there be more research on weapons development and harsh consideration before their decisions. The use of fully autonomous armed robots, known as ‘killer robots’, will select and shoot targets without any direct human control. It is argued that "Robots cannot comply with the Laws of War in discriminating civilians from combatants and they lack the reasoning necessary to make judgments about the proportional use of force, and cannot be held accountable for their errors”(Mbolton, 2013). With this in mind it would be extremely difficult to design a robot to fight in a war without the common errors, which is why people are agents allowing the delegation of robots to fight in war and kill people. Though on the other end of the spectrum, we could put these robots in area of danger and save our men and women in the armed forces to get killed. Engineers could design robots that could withstand elements and dangerous weapons that would kill a human. Both sides have valid arguments, which is why this idea would be a good idea to look into however, harsh consideration should be considered before allowing these robots in war.

Robotics could also affect our economy as it could potently replace people in certain jobs. Mark Allinson states in the article Job-stealing robots a growing concern for world leaders that "Over the last decade, more jobs have been lost to technology than any other factor”(Allinson, 2017). So it is apparent that with the arising advancements of robots they could replace many jobs, such as security. Furthermore advancement in robotics “requires governments, businesses and academic institutions to develop more educated and highly skilled workforces”(Allinson, 2017). This will ultimately widen the income gap and develop inequality. So as the government works on laws and regulations on the advancement of technology and allowing them in businesses, military and recreational uses, ASIMO continues to develop for the better and used to demonstrate the cuter of technology.

Economic Impact

Robots have had an effect with economic as well. This immersing technology is funded buy varies of sources and could effect jobs which ultimately effects the economy. As stated previously robots could eventually replace humans in jobs to increase accuracy and productivity. However this will affect the economy as that could but many people out of jobs. The government budgets a specific amount toward the development of technology for National Institutes of Health (NIH). Oliver Mitchell states in his article, How Will President Trump Affect Robotics Industry?, that "President Obama’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2017, increases NIH spending to over $33 billion to fund a range of biomedical initiatives, including ones in precision medicine, cancer treatment and diagnosis, and brain research”(Mitchell, 2016). Though this amount isn’t all toward specifically robotics, it still makes the funds for robotics over millions of dollars. Oliver claims "Robots fit into President-elect Trump’s vision of “Made in America” as they have been proven to be job growth magnets and a replacement to illegal labor”(Mitchell, 2016). Because of this it does not seem like the funds will be lowered and could even be increased.

Smashing Robotics describes some advanced humanoid robots in their article, Thirteen Advanced Humanoid Robots for Sale Today. They describe ASIMO as "the most advanced humanoid robot but also the most expensive, costing no less than US $2,500,000”(Smashing Robotics, 2016). This is mainly due to the high cost of manufacturing. Trae McNeely also discusses the expense of ASIMO in his article, Honda’s ASIMO Had A Few Drinks And Falls Again, stating that the robot "cost an estimate of $1 million to manufacture in addition to thousands more for maintenance and repair cost”(McNeely, 2006). For this reason ASIMO is highly unaffordable making it difficult for Honda to achieve its goal of having it in peoples homes.

Honda and their investors have control on the development of ASIMO. This is because Honda sets aside a budget for the development of ASIMO and Honda gets a portion of their funds from their investors. If they lose investors then they will have a lack in funds that would delay some advancement processes. ASIMO was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1977. Honda discusses this in their news release, Honda Celebrates 25 Years on New York Stock Exchange, where they explain that "Honda opened for trading on NYSE February 11, 1977, at a price of $25 7/8 per American Depository Receipts (ADRs), at this time one ADR was equal to ten shares. Then on February 13, 2002 stocks were lowered to $19.75, which made two ADRs equal to one share of common stock”(Honda, 2002). Honda wanted to make the ADRs more appealing to individual investors, so they lowered the stock price and made it so a stockholder would get more ADRs for less shares in the company.

Leading robot manufacturers like Honda, Google, Rethink Robotics, 3D Robotics, etc. are the chief players in the Robotic technology industry. The many manufacturers in this industry developing different types of humanoids have many different talents bring a very competitive factor to the development of robots. These companies have different aspects of robotics they focus on, as Honda focuses on ASIMO a humanoid robot that can live in harmony with humans. Increase in technology from these companies would increase the robotics market. The World Summit of the Information Society talks about the expectant growth of the robotics market in their report The Internet of Things. The two graphs below show the optimistic growth expectancy of the robot market.

The expectancy is that the market will have a significant growth from 2010 to 2025. As ASIMO continues to advance and amaze everyone with his incredible abilities it seems reasonable that the market will jump dramatically within the next few years. The All-new ASIMO was launched in 2011 and made significant ungraded from the 2005 New ASIMO design. Honda Is also in the works of designing ASIMO to withstand environments that humans cannot and may other useful upgrades that would make a significant change to society. As of right now, in the year 2017, the growth expected in 2025 seems out of reach but with the fast growth in the technology industry its more realistic then one may think. Accordingly, we may see some major changes in robotics within the next eight years.

Environmental Impact

ASIMO is not yet Environmentally Friendly, just like other robotic technology ASIMO will eventually be designed to withstand environments that are unsafe or toxic to humans. With that development we can use him to help clean up toxic waist and help in the pollution problem. ASIMO is run on a rechargeable battery which is better for the environment then other methods of power however, if he used a more natural form of power, like solar or water power, it would be more eco friendly. Other downfalls of this technology is that, it is made of metal that cannot decompose which means if they end up in landfills, it would have a massive impact. Kris Walker talks about this issue in his article Environmentally Friendly Robots. Walker proposes " to ensure that robots have 'little or no' impact on the environment, would be to construct a robot from biodegradable materials so they decompose into the earth once they have fulfilled their function”(Walker, 2013). There are other robots that are designed with these positive features so the changes are feasible. Therefore Honda engineers have some important changes to make to ASIMO in order to make him an eco friendly robot.

The impacts of robotics have been major but still have a lot of improvements and changes to make in order to make the amount of impact it wishes to make in the future. ASIMO is still in its beginning stage and has made a small yet significant impact on our society and culture. The controversy of this emerging technology will hopefully be eased with newer models of Honda robotics. Honda’s mission is to ensure safety and continues to develop features that will help ASIMO function in society. ASIMO still has many changes to make in order to make a bigger impact on the economy, cultures, and the environment.

The world of robotics is constantly making better changes in order to make robots act more like humans. Honda’s humanoid robot, ASIMO, can walk like a human and speak Japanese, English, and sign language. Eventually ASIMO will be designed to talk in many more languages and function in society with humans. This stirs up some concerns however, and the advancement in robotics is making people feel uneasy. It becomes a controversy with ethics as it impacts multiple aspects of human life. Some encourage the idea of ASIMO helping humans in daily life tasks however others feel that there is a line that may be crossed as robotics continues to advance. These ethical lines include areas in aspects such as safety, privacy, professions, and human rights. Ethical contrivers arise when deciding whether it is safe or not to use autonomy robots in the military, whether future robots will have the same rights as humans, the use of robots in the workforce, and how government and hackers may be able to hack into the ASIMO to get the information the it collected.  

Advancements in Robotics

As we look into the potential of this artificial intelligence, we see some ethical issues that may occur with these improvements in robotics. Isaac Asimov thought about these issues and in the 1940’s developed the three laws of robotics that would help satisfy the various aspects regarding these reasonable concerns. He stated that "robots should be programmed to follow three laws, which are that a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law, and a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law”(Evans, 2007). So far ASIMO follows all their laws and with these laws in mind, the advancements of ASIMO seems to be adhering to these ethical standards. On the other hand, other important issues have arrived since he wrote those laws. Now, other aspects like the controversial use of robots being used as weapons in the military as well as the potential invasion of privacy that ASIMO could form.

Military use. The successful development of ASIMO has received some questions from the military on such a great and helpful creation. The military is looking to have humanoid robots, such as ASIMO, fight in wars. This is a huge controversy of ethics as killer robots could replace our soldiers and keep our men and women safe. However, the potential lack in judgment from the artificial intelligence could increase the amount of casualties in a war. Kenny To, an engineer for Honda that helped develop ASIMO, discusses this ethical dilemma in his article, Ethical Issues Relating to Engineering and Humanoid Robots, where he says that the military was willing to pay him for information about ASIMO that would help develop humanoid robots in the military, to be used as weapons in war. Kenny expressed that, "the US Department of Defense asked him for crucial advice and information on the locomotives of the humanoid robot so that they could improve on their own military robot”(To, 2013). ASIMO was invented to aid people in daily life tasks, acting as a tool to help people who are disabled do these daily tasks. Therefore the invention of humanoid robots was not to use them to harm people but to help people. Many people view developing humanoid robots into autonomy war machines that act on its own, instead of orders or direction from a human as ethically wrong. Kenny, just like many others on this topic, "believe that this technology should not be used for killing, they are best suited to help make the daily lives of people a lot easier. Likewise, advanced locomotives should be used to make humanoid robots a more viable tool for strenuous duties; not for combat”(To, 2013). Some could argue that using robots like ASIMO for combat would help keep people safe as it would no longer need people on the battle field.

(Ninja Tools, 2009)

Though this could save the lives of our soldiers and have the ability to kill the enemy, it would also have the ability to harm innocent civilians. Robots lack that mental state of intuition and many engineers in this field feel like it will always be missing in technology, so because of this who would be to blame for the deaths of innocence. Until the robots have the complete understanding and intuition needed for this type of action, the robot itself can not be held accountable and therefore, "should not be used for combat because they cannot reason whether to cause harm or not”(To, 2013). The engineer states that, "the software and level of programming that we are capable of today are not even remotely close to the level of advancement needed to design an autonomous robot for combat“(To, 2013). In other words the development of robotics have a long way to go before it can even be considered for this type of use. Honda’s mission is to create a helpful robot, not a harmful robot, and with its astonishing advancements, that even the military would like to know, it seems that in the future ASIMO will eventually easily blend into society and complete daily tasks that humans do today.

Robot rights. With the advancements in artificial intelligence and the expectations of one day living in harmony with robots, like ASIMO, it stirs up some interesting ethical questions about the types of rights robots have in society. Dylan Evans asks these types of questions in his article the ethical dilemmas of robots. He asks, "If robots can feel pain, should they be granted certain rights? If robots develop emotions, as some experts think they will, should they be allowed to marry humans? Should they be allowed to own property?”(Evans, 2007). If we follow Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, none of these situations go against the laws however does that mean robots should have the same rights as humans. As we know, ASIMO is designed to help people so in many cases ASIMO would be owned by the person they are designed to help. Many people feel that if we give robots rights then it gets them one step closer to taking over the world. As AI develops to walk, talk, act, and even look more like humans, developers and engineers in this field can only see the future being faced with these ethical question that will cause controversy to whether of not they should have the same rights as humans. This technology is blurring the lines between humans and robots, which is causing major ethical concerns. Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen took a survey that asked an important question; when, if ever, will a robot deserve “human” rights?

(Wallach & Allen, 2011)

The pie chart shown above illustrates that 37% of respondents said that robots should never have rights. If we give robots the same rights as humans it would force humans to think of robots as equals to them rather then an invention that help them. With that established, the main question humans have to ask before developing laws on this issue is, what makes us human? Some say it our emotional intelligence, but if we can somehow program a robot to feel the same emotions humans do, can we think of the technology to be just as important as humans? Dylan discusses some robots have, "the ability to recognize human expressions of emotion, and to engage in behavior that humans readily perceive as emotional”(Evans, 2007). ASIMO resembles a small child however is not designed to look like a human, therefore does not raise these concerns yet, but with the advancement and expectation of the future in robotics many can see these ethical issues. It is important that we address these questions and form laws and ethical guidelines to insure that we do not give robots like ASIMO more power then what they were originally designed to do, which is to help people.

Robots in the workforce. Along with the ethical dilemma on robot rights, artificial intelligence are also taking over the workforce, which will eventually force many people to be unemployed. This, of course, is not an issue toward humanoid robots specifically but the field of AI in general. The issue of robots eventually taking over our workforce is mainly due to the fact that robots can be programed to do a job more efficiently and accurately. If a company decides to use robots it will save them money on labor, though they would need another fund for any fixes or repairs needed for the robots. It would be ethical to choose humans over robots in the workforce to benefit the majority of people. Being able to work and make money to be able to live is a right that humans have, if we take away jobs and replace them with robots it can be considered unethical. William Davidow and Michael Malone discuss the future workforce on this ethical issue in their article, What Happens to Society When Robots Replace Workers? They explain that, “in a few years smarter robots could be produced in quantities of 10,000, and might cost less than $5,000. At that price, even the lowest-paid workers in the least developed countries might not be able to compete”(Davidow & Malone, 2014). So eventually the production of robots will be so cheap that it will be a better investment then paying a human to do it. William and Michael describe this as the "Second Economy” and say that, "If the Second Economy does achieve a sizable rate of growth, it will be replacing the work of approximately 100 million workers. To put that number in perspective, the current total employed civilian labor force today is 146 million. However, a extensive fraction of those replaced jobs will be made up by new ones in the Second Economy” (Davidow & Malone, 2014). Though robots in some industries are replacing humans, it also opens up a new field of work that could actually help with the economic growth. Humans will be hired to fix and maintain the robots, which will be a higher-level job, increasing the amount of pay. Some companies have already started implementing robots into their workforce and have seen impressive changes because of it. Jay Yarow shares a study on business insider that shows the fields that robots will most likely take over, and the probability of this event.

(Yarow, 2014)

In the graph shown above, it specifies that jobs such as, Telemarketers, Accountants and auditors, and Retail salespersons, are the fields that are almost guaranteed to be replaced by robots. Even when we think of ASIMO being designed to help people, we can see that it could replace the job of caregivers as it could be with the person at all times. ASIMO can eventually be programed to assist in care for helping someone with a disability or an elderly person. ASIMO is already able to turn on and off light switches, carry trays, pour drinks, walk up and down stairs, and even speak sign language for those who are hearing impaired. So it is clear on the positive effects of ASIMO but the technology also could jeopardize people’s jobs. It is important that we educate the younger generations of this “Second Economy” and train them in helping with the development to insure that they are not out of a job in a few years. This revolution is too far along to stop so the only thing humanity can do now is to adapt to these immense changes and be ahead of this ethical dilemma.

Privacy. When it comes to technology and robotics specifically, there are ethical concerns about a person’s privacy. Honda’s goal with ASIMO is to allow him to live in society with humans. This intrusive idea makes some people concerned about their privacy. ASIMO records everything it hears and sees, therefore making no part of a human’s daily life at home privet anymore. Ryan Calo states some of these privacy ethical issues in his article, Robots and Privacy. He says that, "Home robots can come equipped with an array of sensors, including potentially standard and infrared cameras, sonar or laser rangefinders, odor detectors, accelerometers, and global positioning systems (GPS)”(Calo, 2010). With these abilities it leaves ways for outside sources to hack into the robots system and be able to know everything the robot knows. Ryan brings up the idea of system hackers in his article where he states, "the use of a robot capable of connecting to the Internet within the home creates the possibility for unprecedented access to the interior of the house by law enforcement, civil litigants, and hackers”(Calo, 2010). This means that any information gathered from robots, like ASIMO, is accessible to the government and can be achieved with just a subpoena or request. Under the current privacy laws, not much will protect a person from getting this information released, "the government will be able to secure a warrant for recorded information with sufficient legal process, physically seizing the robot or gaining live access to the stream of sensory data”(Calo, 2010). ASIMO has cameras as eyes and records everything it sees and hears. This raises a huge ethical issue as robots, like ASIMO, is designed to live in a persons house and help them with simple daily tasks, if everything it records is able to be seen by the governments, other law enforcement’s, and even hackers, then it would be considered an invasion of privacy. This is because the robot can be hacked into without the knowledge of the owner, which then would give the hacker access to unknowingly see and hear what is going on inside the house and even be able to move the robot around the room to see what they wish to observe. This creates a whole new privacy issue as the robot could pick up mail or other information that is privet to the owner. The technology creates opportunity to legally access private information and enhances the surveillance for the government or hackers. This causes huge concerns for the safety of ones family making the idea of ASIMO living in ones home a controversy. A previous study by Open Roboethics Initiative shows this controversy with bathing robots to replace caregivers. As shown in the graph below, about half the people would be comfortable with fully autonomy robots while the other half is more comfortable with lesser forms of autonomy robots.

(Open Roboethics Initiative, 2014)

This means that half the people surveyed feel that bathing is a private experience and fully autonomy robots could record the event making this technology form some ethical dilemmas. Developers and engineers should take this into consideration when building ASIMO, and program the robot with a high complex security system so that it is not easy for hackers to hack into the robot and be able to see and hear what the robot sees. Furthermore, it is also important to develop and implement laws and regulations that protect people’s privacy.

The emerging technology of robotics creates many moral and ethical concerns that must be addressed to insure people’s safety and privacy. There are a lot of gray areas in this uncharted territory in technology that must be greatly defined before people are willing to allow robots into their home, and into their life to help. There are many people that are acceptant of this technology but also a great number of people who are skeptical of the advancements in technology. More laws and regulations outlining these ethical issues will greatly increase the amount of acceptance it receives. Therefore, all moral and ethical controversies should be addressed and defined to help people feel more comfortable with robots, such as ASIMO, to help them in their daily lives.  

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