XI
Foreword
American military drones y above Afghanistan in search of terror-
ists. At the same moment, a robot with articial lips plays the trum-
pet in a beautiful way. And in Europe, researchers are working on the
development of humanoid robots that are able to wash the behinds of
elderly people. Robots are thus no longer only used in factories but are
also rapidly becoming an integral part of our daily lives. ink about
human activities such as caring for the elderly and driving cars and
also about having sex and killing people. is book illustrates that
this new robotics is about literal automation from love to war. is is
driven by the ultimate engineering dream: developing an autonomous
and socially and morally capable machine.
Robotization, however, is not just about social humanoid robots
but is especially about the rise of all kinds of robotic systems in our
society. e Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
(METI) predicts the emergence of a neo-mechatronic society, in which
robots will routinely provide a number of services such as cleaning,
guarding buildings, providing recreational facilities, and caring for
the elderly. e United States foresees a development from the Internet
to robotics and strives for a leading position in the development of co-
robots: smart robotic systems that can cooperate with humans and
support them with tasks in health care, agriculture, energy, defense,
XII Foreword
and space travel. e European Commission also has a lot of enthu-
siasm for the future of robotics and invests heavily in it.
Robotics will make our lives more pleasant. Telecare via domotics
and care robots will enable people to live independently for a longer
period of time. e robotization of car mobility will make our road
trac safer. And robots will gradually take over a lot of our current
dirty, dangerous, and dull work. Robots are already used for disman-
tling explosives and will, according to some, eventually be used in the
sex industry as a technological alternative for the often humiliating
conditions many prostitutes nd themselves in nowadays.
e new robotics will also make things more dicult, because
we are forced to think, debate, and form an opinion about the many
political, ethical, philosophical, judicial, and social issues that the
rapid developments in the eld of robotics raise. Are we capable of
capturing the innovation opportunities oered by robotics? Have
we thought about how to really shape that innovation in a respon-
sible manner? How can we create the conditions for public trust
in these new technologies? When can we tell is the best time to
remove the legal barriers that hamper the introduction of benecial
robotic systems.
Have we already thought about the question of if and when we
are morally obliged to use robots? Do we have a moral dutyto
make our trac systems as safe as possible by means of the avail-
able robotic technologies? Does the use of tele-led armed mili-
tary drones increase the emotional and, therefore, moral distance
between the actions of drone operators and the ethical implications
of those actions? Proponents think these robots might lead to less
psychological suering among military personnel, and eventually
even to more rational decisions being made. Critics are afraid of the
words of a young cubicle warrior who says about his job: “It’s like
a videogame. It can get a little bloodthirsty. But it’s frickin’ cool.”
A core challenge is therefore to prevent the potentially dehuman-
izing eects of robot systems.
Just Ordinary Robots: Automation from Love to War examines the
social signicance of the new generation of ve types of robots:
the home robot, the care robot, police and private drones, the car
robot, and the military robot. e starting point is that innovation
is only about developing technology. e challenge is to perceive
XIIIForeword
and anticipate the chances and risks related to the new robotics in
a timely way, because in the end, we humans have to decide how to
shape the automation from love to war.
is book is the result of many years of research by the Rathenau
Instituut, the Netherlands’ key research and debating center for sci-
ence, technology, and society. In 2012, this research led to the publi-
cation of the Dutch book Overal Robots (Robots Everywhere), written
by Lambèr Royakkers, Floortje Daemen, and Rinie van Est (2012).
is book is an updated and drastically revised version of that book.
Frans Brom
Head of Technology Assessment
Rathenau Instituut
e Hague, the Netherlands
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