Meet Spot, the 160 lbs dog robot that can run, climb stairs and has an uncanny ability to maintain its balance.
Designed by robotics company Boston Dynamics, there were heated discussions online when Google bought the company in 2013, with accusations that Google had gone against its “Don’t be evil” motto by purchasing a company that had worked with the U.S. military and had close ties with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Google motto 2004: Don't be evil Google motto 2010: Evil is tricky to define Google motto 2013: We make military robots
But more recently, the conversation flared up again, most of it stemming from the video released this week showing Boston Dynamics employees trying to kick Spot over in order to show how robust it is. The video spread around the Internet like wildfire and raised questions about ethics, the future of robotics and Google’s intentions.
Ethics
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Many are more interested in what Google’s strategy is, as Boston Robotics is the eighth robotics company it has acquired.
In the last few years Google has bought Schaft Inc., which makes bipedal robots that can walk on uneven terrain, climb ladders and clear rubbish, Redwood Robotics, which develops service robots, and Meka Robotics, whose inventions are designed to live and work with human beings.
Whatever Google’s master plan is, questions about how we interact with robots will continue to be asked, and the lines are sure to get ever blurrier.
Coeckelbergh said: “In my papers I argue that appearance is important for our moral experience, and if robots are going to look and behave like this and become more human-like and more animal-like, we will for sure attribute all kinds of things to them: mental status, emotions, and also moral properties and rights.
“In any case, it’s good that these new technologies make us question and discuss how we think about moral status and ethics. In the future we have to learn to deal with these new entities, and if necessary adapt and re-train our moral sensitivities.”
