Luke Taylor Undergraduate Dissertation 2016/17

Ethical Concerns about Robot Teachers

Supervised by A.Sharkey

Abstract

Progression in robotics is increasing exponentially with a real possibility of integrating into our social lives in the near future. This paper evaluates the current uses and benefits of social and telepresence robots while considering the perceptions of 70 volunteers with regards to major ethical concerns that have been raised. Participants were randomly distributed into two survey conditions, with one condition containing scenarios referencing primary school students, and the other condition referencing secondary school students. The results suggest that participants were mostly concerned about the control & accountability of robots, followed by child development and lastly, privacy. Non-significant statistical analyses between the two groups suggest that concerns do not vary between conditions. Despite the ethical concerns acknowledged by participants, the results from this research show that participants would accept the use of robots in schools providing they were adequately supervised.