Information and communication technology solutions for outdoor navigation in dementia

INTRODUCTION: Information and communication technology (ICT) is potentially mature enough to empower outdoor and social activities in dementia. However, actual ICT-based devices have limited functionality and impact, mainly limited to safety. What is an ideal operational framework to enhance this field to support outdoor and social activities? METHODS: Review of literature and cross-disciplinary expert discussion. RESULTS: A situation-aware ICT requires a flexible fine-tuning by stakeholders of system usability and complexity of function, and of user safety and autonomy. It should operate by artificial intelligence/machine learning and should reflect harmonized stakeholder values, social context, and user residual cognitive functions. ICT services should be proposed at the prodromal stage of dementia and should be carefully validated within the life space of users in terms of quality of life, social activities, and costs. DISCUSSION: The operational framework has the potential to produce ICT and services with high clinical impact but requires substantial investment

Autonomous Weapon Systems: A Brief Survey of Developmental, Operational, Legal, and Ethical Issues

What does the Department of Defense hope to gain from the use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS)? This Letort Paper explores a diverse set of complex issues related to the developmental, operational, legal, and ethical aspects of AWS. It explores the recent history of the development and integration of autonomous and semi-autonomous systems into traditional military operations. It examines anticipated expansion of these roles in the near future as well as outlines international efforts to provide a context for the use of the systems by the United States. As these topics are well-documented in many sources, this Paper serves as a primer for current and future AWS operations to provide senior policymakers, decisionmakers, military leaders, and their respective staffs an overall appreciation of existing capabilities and the challenges, opportunities, and risks associated with the use of AWS across the range of military operations. Emphasis is added to missions and systems that include the use of deadly force.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1303/thumbnail.jp

Robot warriors: why the Western investment into military robots might backfire

Since the turn of the millennium, when Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and robots first began to gain special attention in the US military, a veritable boom of robotization has ensued. Currently, more than 45 states are developing UAVs or already have them, and interest continues to grow. For drones are especially suited to carry out tasks that are dirty, dull, or dangerous, and can complement the capabilities of any of the world’s armies in interesting ways. Two trends are especially noticeable: The first is the trend to weaponize unmanned platforms and thus to achieve a force multiplier that makes coordination between reconnaissance and shooter obsolete. The second is the trend towards greater autonomy of the system, i.e., away from remote piloting towards remote control of systems that increasingly act without human assistance. Although all countries worldwide have an interest in drones, they are particularly tempting for the Western states. This is because drones and robots are exceptionally suitable for minimizing losses among one’s own troops by effectively replacing soldiers on the battlefield. Especially against the background of increasing concern in Western public opinion over growing casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, drones appear to be the “weapon of choice” when it comes to maintaining the “conductibility” of military campaigns. Accordingly, Western states are particularly involved in the development and acquisition of drone technology. At the same time, the increasing use and proliferation of drones also creates problems: For instance, the growing numbers of drones strikes conducted mainly by the CIA in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan have caused problems under international law and given rise to considerable disagreement among experts in the assessment of the strikes. Also, the increasing proliferation of drones has a destabilizing effect that should not be underestimated, and it is not difficult to come up with scenarios where possession of drones significantly lowers the inhibition threshold to the use of force involving these platforms. Lastly, there are also ethical concerns, especially when the two trends of arming and automating UAVs become increasingly intertwined. For who ultimately carries responsibility if an automated drone “decides” without human intervention to kill humans? All of these problems and potential dangers indicate the necessity of regulating the increasingly unchecked build-up of UAV armaments by means of arms control policy. It is questionable, however, whether arms control can be enforced if the states that have so far been the strongest advocates of international arms control, such as the Federal Republic of Germany, are currently jumping on the drone bandwagon instead of trying to slow it down. It is therefore important to create an awareness of the necessity of voluntary arms limitation before the current technological advantage enjoyed by the West melts away and the Western countries can no longer call the shots when it comes to initiating arms control efforts

Welfare technologies in Finland: An ethico-politics of hype, hope and experimentation

In the past decade, the Finnish government has been eager to enable and support the development, implementation and growing business of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence—that is, welfare technologies in elderly care services. In these visions, technologies offer an intervention to increase health and wellbeing while also being an economic commodity to generate profit. Therefore, expectations towards welfare technologies show politics with high optimism, in which simultaneous expectations of good health, smooth services, a growing economy and a thriving welfare state are fostered. This dissertation delves into a problem in which care politics raise high expectations of technology while catering to the needs of the ageing population. My main research question is as follows: How are the high expectations related to the technology realised in care practices, and what are the ethico-political implications? This dissertation consists of four articles that exemplify the different dimensions of realising these expectations. The dissertation is theoretically based on multiple perspectives from science and technology studies. My theoretical framework enables a focus on ethico-political practices and expectations, offers a symmetrical approach to care and technology and provides a critical viewpoint to the technological promises laid in contemporary care politics. I use multi-sited ethnography as a methodology. The research materials consist of documents, observations and interviews. The focus of the empirical materials is on social robots and telecare technology—that is, robots designed to provide companionship and assistance and surveillance technologies for secure care. I read the different research materials through the sociology of translations, which emphasises that the manner in which expectations are fulfilled concerns the adaptation and transformation of different actors and their aspirations. This dissertation advances the theoretical and empirical understanding of the welfare technology phenomenon. My main argument is that expectations related to welfare technologies in Finland are realised in actual care practices through negotiations between the regimes of hype and hope. The regime of hype captures the health and social policy side of the welfare technology phenomenon, while the regime of hope mainly concerns institutional care. Hype creates, collects and circulates optimistic expectations, while hope enables living with the uncertainty that comes with technology’s material agency. With technology comes the possibility of disruption, which intervenes with care relations and, paradoxically, enables them by offering possibilities for creativity. Experimentation is central to both regimes. While experimentation in the regime of hype aims at fulfilling optimistic expectations, experimentation in the regime of hope is obligatory to secure care. Experimentation in practice makes the wellbeing of individuals and the state commensurate, transforming disappointments into achievements and technological possibilities into necessities. Both regimes value ambivalence and uncertainty due to their shared focus on experimentation.----- Tarkastelen sosiologian alaan kuuluvassa väitöskirjassa iäkkäiden hoivatyöhön suunnattuihin hyvinvointiteknologioihin liittyviä odotuksia sekä niiden eettis-poliittisia vaikutuksia. Väitöskirja koostuu neljästä vertaisarvioidusta tutkimusartikkelista ja yhteenvetoluvusta. Kaksi artikkeleista on julkaistu kansainvälisissä ja kaksi kotimaisissa lehdissä. Tutkimus paikantuu suomalaisen hyvinvointivaltion ja sen hoivapalvelujen murroskohtaan, jossa riittämättömiin hoivaresursseihin haetaan poliittista ratkaisua automaatiosta, tekoälystä ja robotiikasta. Hyvinvointiteknologian käsite viittaa pohjoismaisten hyvinvointivaltioiden pyrkimyksiin vastata ikääntyvän väestön tuomiin haasteisiin teknologisilla innovaatioilla samalla uusia yritysmahdollisuuksia kehittäen ja julkista taloutta eheyttäen. Päätutkimuskysymykseni on: Miten hyvinvointiteknologioihin liittyvät odotukset käytännössä toteutetaan ja millaisin eetis-poliittisin seurauksin? Teoreettisesti tutkimus paikantuu tieteen- ja teknologiantutkimuksen monitieteiseen kenttään. Osallistun erityisesti tutkimusalan keskusteluihin, jotka lähestyvät hoivaa, ikääntymistä ja teknologiaa sekä näihin liittyvää etiikkaa ja politiikkaa käytäntöjen kautta, eivät tee lähtökohtaista erottelua hoivaan liittyvien inhmillisten ja ei-inhimillisten toimijoiden välille sekä mahdollistavat kriittisen tulokulman hyvinvointiteknologiaan kohdistuviin lupauksiin. Metodologisesti tutkimus pohjautuu monipaikkaiseen etnografiaan. Keräämäni aineistot koostuvat dokumenteista, havainnointiaineistosta ja haastatteluista. Lähestyn hyvinvointiteknologian ilmiötä etenkin sosiaalisen robotiikan ja etähoivateknologian kautta. Analysoin aineistoja käännösten sosiologian avulla eli paneutumalla siihen, miten teknologioihin liittyvien lupausten toteutuminen on riippuvaista käännösprosesseista, joissa erilaiset toimijat ja niiden tavoitteet määrittyvät uusiksi. Tutkimus kontribuoi yhteiskuntatieteelliseen hyvinvointiteknologioiden ja iäkkäiden hoivan tutkimukseen tarkastelemalla monipaikkaisesti, miten uusiin teknologioihin liittyvät, eettis-poliittisesti latautuneet ja tulevaisuuteen kohdistuvat, odotukset taipuvat osaksi hoivatyön arkea sitä samalla muuttaen. Tutkimuksessa näytän, miten hyvinvointiteknologiaan liittyvät odotukset toteutuvat käytännössä jännitteisten neuvotteluiden kautta. Väitän, että hyvinvointiteknologiaan liittyvien odotusten toteuttaminen liittyy Suomessa kahteen erilaiseen, hypen ja toivon, regiimiin. Siinä missä hypen regiimi kuvaa hyvinvointiteknologioihin liittyvien suurten odotusten politiikkaa, toivon regiimi havainnollistaa uusien teknologioiden kanssa elettyä hoivan arkea. Molemmat regiimit painottavat kokeellisuutta. Siinä missä hypen regiimissä kokeellisuuden avulla toteutetaan teknologiaan liittyviä lupauksia, toivon regiimissä kokeellisuus on välttämätöntä hyvän hoivan turvaamiseksi. Käytännössä kokeellisuus on keino yhteismitallistaa yksilön ja valtion hyvinvointi, muuttaa pettymykset saavutuksiksi ja teknologiset mahdollisuudet välttämättömyyksiksi. Kokeellisuudesta seuraa, että molemmissa regiimeissä hyödynnetään epävarmuutta resurssina

Robots in Care and Everyday Life

This open access book presents detailed findings about the ethical, legal, and social acceptance of robots in the German and European context. The key resource is the Bremen AI Delphi survey of scientists and politicians and a related population survey. The focus is on trust in robotic assistance, human willingness to use this assistance, and the expected personal well-being in human-robot interaction. Using recent data from Eurostat, the European Social Survey, and the Eurobarometer survey, the analysis is extended to Germany and the EU. The acceptance of robots in care and everyday life is viewed against their acceptance in other contexts of life and the scientific research. The book reports on how the probability of five complex future scenarios is evaluated by experts and politicians. These scenarios cover a broad range of topics, including the worst-case scenario of cutthroat competition for jobs, the wealth promise of AI, communication in human-robot interaction, robotic assistance, and ethical and legal conflicts. International economic competition alone will ensure that countries invest sustainably in the future technologies of AI and robots. But will these technologies also be accepted by the population? The book raises the core issue of how governments can gain the needed social, ethical, and user acceptance of AI and robots in everyday life. This highly topical book is of interest to researchers, professionals and policy makers working on various aspects of human-robot interaction. This is an open access book

AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT: FUTURE LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Abstract As with all new technologies, autonomous robots bring with them a bevy of new legal and ethical issues. In no place is this more evident than in the law enforcement industry. This paper will examine the manner in which the next generation of autonomous robots will likely be put to use by police and other law enforcement personnel—from reconnaissance to explosive ordinance disposal (EOD)—and examine the legal and ethical controversies that they may bring with them. It will do so by delving into the current use of robots in policing and considering the challenges they have brought to date. Then, by examining of new technology that is being developed over the world, specifically in the field of autonomy, this paper will posit how such robots might be used in the future and what disputes they may introduce to the law enforcement world. Will humans ever be removed from the decision-making process? What happens when you take the human controller out of the equation? Will they, perhaps, be allowed to gather evidence at a crime scene and if so, how will the evidence gathered under the sole direction of the robot be processed and accepted in court? Who is at fault if something goes wrong? How will police in the field avoid this legal and moral minefield that autonomous robots will drag along with them when they arrive? By examining the past and current use of this generation of robots within the law-enforcement community and combining it with the technological advantages autonomous robots will be bringing to the table, we might begin to answer these questions

Visuo-spatial Abilities In Remote Perception: A Meta-analysis Of Empirical Work

Meta-analysis was used to investigate the relationship between visuo-spatial ability and performance in remote environments. In order to be included, each study needed to examine the relationship between the use of an ego-centric perspective and various dimensions of performance (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time). The moderator analysis investigated relationships involving: (a) visuo-spatial construct with an emphasis on Carroll’s (1993) visualization (VZ) factor; (b) performance outcome (i.e., identification, localization, navigation, and mission completion time); (c) autonomy to support mission performance; (d) task type (i.e., navigation vs. reconnaissance); and (e) experimental testbed (i.e., physical vs. virtual environments). The process of searching and screening for published and unpublished analyses identified 81 works of interest that were found to represent 50 unique datasets. 518 effects were extracted from these datasets for analyses. Analyses of aggregated effects (Hunter & Schmidt, 2004) found that visuo-spatial abilities were significantly associated with each construct, such that effect sizes ranged from weak (r = .235) to moderately strong (r = .371). For meta-regression (Borenstein, Hedges, Figgins, & Rothstein, 2009; Kalaian & Raudenbush, 1996; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007), moderation by visuo-spatial construct (i.e., focusing on visualization) was consistently supported for all outcomes. For at least one of the outcomes, support was found for moderation by test, the reliability coefficient of a test, autonomy (i.e. to support identification, localization, and navigation), testbed (i.e., physical vs. virtual environment), intended domain of application, and gender. These findings illustrate that majority of what researchers refer to as “spatial ability” actually uses measures that load onto Carroll’s (1993) visualization (VZ) factor. The associations between this predictor and all performance outcomes were significant, but the significant iv variation across moderators highlight important issues for the design of unmanned systems and the external validity of findings across domains. For example, higher levels of autonomy for supporting navigation decreased the association between visualization (VZ) and performance. In contrast, higher levels of autonomy for supporting identification and localization increased the association between visualization (VZ) and performance. Furthermore, moderation by testbed, intended domain of application, and gender challenged the degree to which findings can be expected to generalize across domains and sets of participants

Selecting Metrics to Evaluate Human Supervisory Control Applications

The goal of this research is to develop a methodology to select supervisory control metrics. This methodology is based on cost-benefit analyses and generic metric classes. In the context of this research, a metric class is defined as the set of metrics that quantify a certain aspect or component of a system. Generic metric classes are developed because metrics are mission-specific, but metric classes are generalizable across different missions. Cost-benefit analyses are utilized because each metric set has advantages, limitations, and costs, thus the added value of different sets for a given context can be calculated to select the set that maximizes value and minimizes costs. This report summarizes the findings of the first part of this research effort that has focused on developing a supervisory control metric taxonomy that defines generic metric classes and categorizes existing metrics. Future research will focus on applying cost benefit analysis methodologies to metric selection. Five main metric classes have been identified that apply to supervisory control teams composed of humans and autonomous platforms: mission effectiveness, autonomous platform behavior efficiency, human behavior efficiency, human behavior precursors, and collaborative metrics. Mission effectiveness measures how well the mission goals are achieved. Autonomous platform and human behavior efficiency measure the actions and decisions made by the humans and the automation that compose the team. Human behavior precursors measure human initial state, including certain attitudes and cognitive constructs that can be the cause of and drive a given behavior. Collaborative metrics address three different aspects of collaboration: collaboration between the human and the autonomous platform he is controlling, collaboration among humans that compose the team, and autonomous collaboration among platforms. These five metric classes have been populated with metrics and measuring techniques from the existing literature. Which specific metrics should be used to evaluate a system will depend on many factors, but as a rule-of-thumb, we propose that at a minimum, one metric from each class should be used to provide a multi-dimensional assessment of the human-automation team. To determine what the impact on our research has been by not following such a principled approach, we evaluated recent large-scale supervisory control experiments conducted in the MIT Humans and Automation Laboratory. The results show that prior to adapting this metric classification approach, we were fairly consistent in measuring mission effectiveness and human behavior through such metrics as reaction times and decision accuracies. However, despite our supervisory control focus, we were remiss in gathering attention allocation metrics and collaboration metrics, and we often gathered too many correlated metrics that were redundant and wasteful. This meta-analysis of our experimental shortcomings reflect those in the general research population in that we tended to gravitate to popular metrics that are relatively easy to gather, without a clear understanding of exactly what aspect of the systems we were measuring and how the various metrics informed an overall research question