Robot Makers Vow Not to Weaponize Their Products
A group of robotics companies say tech leaders need to make sure robots aren't used for nefarious purposes.
Boston Dynamics' very doglike robot Spot.
Boston Dynamics and five other robotics companies have signed a pledge promising not to weaponize their general-purpose products and asking other companies to make the same commitment.
The companies signing the pledge, which also include Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree, say that though robots have come a long way in recent years and do many good things, there's still a potential for misuse.
In the hands of the wrong people, they say, robots could be used to infringe on civil rights or otherwise "threaten, harm or intimidate" people. The potential of weaponization is one of their biggest concerns.
"We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues," the group wrote in their pledge.
The pledge came just days after Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled his company's Tesla Bot, a robot code-named Optimus that he says could cost $20,000 and be released within three to five years.
Boston Dynamics is known best for its doglike robot Spot, which is used by police and fire departments to give them remote visibility into potentially dangerous places where unstable structures, explosives, hazardous materials or suspicious packages might be involved.
The company has also been testing its very humanlike Atlas robot. A video released last year showed it speeding through a parkour course.