Work

Not the Law's First Rodeo: Towards regulating trustworthy collaborative industrial embodied autonomous systems

Year: 2024

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Does the law stifle technology adoption? At the surface, it may appear to be that there is a regulatory gap and, therefore, such uncertainty can hinder the development and deployment of collaborative industrial embodied autonomous systems (Cobots). Cobots are a class of robots which, unlike other forms of industrial robots, have seemingly introduced new legal challenges due to the direct human-robot collaboration factor. In this paper, to shed light on the above, we investigate the gap in the applicability of the current legal frameworks to this technology from the UK and EU regulatory approaches. We argue that the current law is applicable in regulating this technology given the state of the art. We discuss implications for the regulation to enhance trust and responsible future adoption of Cobots.

DOI: 10.1145/3686038.3686047

Authors: Natalie Leesakul, Jeremie Clos, Richard Hyde

Institution: University of Nottingham

Language: English

Topic: Digitalization, Law, and Regulation

Subfield: Law

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Funders: UK Research and Innovation, University of Nottingham

Awards: G2094331273, G301723715, G3790499776