The Cowl - v.78 - n.9 - Nov 7, 2013

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 78 - No. 9 - November 7, 2013. 24 pages

Challenges and Solutions to Criminal Liability for the Actions of Robots and AI

Civil liability legislation is currently being developed, but little attention has been paid to the issue of criminal liability for the actions of robots. The study describes the generations of robots and points out the concerns about robots’ autonomy. The more autonomy robots obtain, the greater capacity they have for self-learning, yet the more difficulty in proving the failure foreseeability when designing and whether culpability or the elements of a specific crime can be considered. In this study, the tort liability depending on the category of robots is described, and the possible solutions are analyzed. It is shown that there is no need to introduce new criminal law constructions, but to focus on the process of proof. Instead of changing the legal system, it is necessary to create the most detailed audit trail telling about the robot’s actions and surroundings or to have a digital twin of the robot

Buoyant Unmanned Distress Detection and Evacuation System

The Buoyant Unmanned Distress Detection and Evacuation (BUDD-E) System provides lifeguards with a solution for identifying and rescuing distressed swimmers. The BUDD-E System monitors swimmers’ locations and pulses with wristbands worn by each individual. The wristband is equipped with an emergency trigger to indicate that a swimmer requires help, and the system also prepares information for lifeguards as a live map of swimmers’ locations, color coded to indicate their safety status. In emergency situations, an unmanned robotic platform is dispatched to victims for support. As a comprehensive emergency response system, the BUDD-E System aims to prevent unnecessary loss of human life and minimize trauma from drowning incidents by complimenting the efforts of trained rescue personnel

J Occup Environ Hyg

The increasing use of robots in performing tasks alongside or together with human co-workers raises novel occupational safety and health issues. The new 21st century workplace will be one in which occupational robotics plays an increasing role. This article describes the increasing complexity of robots and proposes a number of recommendations for the practice of safe occupational robotics.CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States2017-03-01T00:00:00Z26554511PMC477979

Soft Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery and Interventions: Advances and Outlook

Since the emergence of soft robotics around two decades ago, research interest in the field has escalated at a pace. It is fuelled by the industry's appreciation of the wide range of soft materials available that can be used to create highly dexterous robots with adaptability characteristics far beyond that which can be achieved with rigid component devices. The ability, inherent in soft robots, to compliantly adapt to the environment, has significantly sparked interest from the surgical robotics community. This article provides an in-depth overview of recent progress and outlines the remaining challenges in the development of soft robotics for minimally invasive surgery

The Impact of Science on Society

Four speeches delivered as part of a public lecture series to assess the impact of science on society are presented. The computerization of society, space exploration and habitation, the mechanisms of technological change, and cultural responses are addressed

Arguments against Drone Warfare with a Focus on the Immorality of Remote Control Killing and “Deadly Surveillance”

Drone warfare, particularly in the form of targeted killing, has serious legal, moral, and political costs so that a case can be made for an international treaty prohibiting this type of warfare. However, the case would be stronger if it could be shown that killing by drones is inherently immoral. From this angle I explore the moral significance of two features of this technology of killing: the killing is done by remote control with the operators geographically far away from the target zone and the killing is typically the outcome of a long process of surveillance. I argue that remote control killing as such might not be inherently wrong but poses the risks of globalizing conflict and prioritizing troop protection above civilian safety, while the “deadly surveillance” aspect of drone killing makes it most clearly intrinsically wrong

The Impact of Technology in Orientation Aid

Statistic states that 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. About 90% of the world\u27s visually impaired people live in developing countries. Taking in consideration that Mechatronics is a methodology used for the optimal design of electromechanical products, and by combining technologies that are available to us we can develop a very useful tool that blind people and people with sight problems can change their lives. Combining smart phones and digital camera there are possibilities to build smart glasses which will give information to blind people. In this paper definitely a new approach for making peoples life easy is proposed. Initially the results are reached from simulation using Matlab/SIMULINK package which will lead this research to real time experimental results