Robot Companies Promise To Not Weaponise Products

Popular science fiction films like “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” and “I, Robot” put forward the worrying idea of a robot uprising, but a handful of robotic manufacturers are trying to quell that troubling thought by pledging to not weaponise their robots.

Boston Dynamics, along with five other leading firms – which includes Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree Robotics – signed an open letter last Thursday, 6 October, promising to not add weaponry to their general-purpose technology.

It states: “We also call on every organisation, developer, researcher and user in the robotics community to make similar pledges not to build, authorise, support, or enable the attachment of weaponry to such robots.”

The agreement included that they would oppose any alternative applications brought forward by other tech firms, or customers, which would enable the construction of lethal automatons.

A common vision among the tech giants is that “the benefits for humanity of these technologies strongly outweigh the risk of misuse, and we are excited about a bright future in which humans and robots work side by side to tackle some of the world’s challenges.”

To put your mind at ease: no, your R2-D2 Roomba will NOT murder you in your sleep.

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