Standards Development

Scope

This British Standard gives guidance on the identification of potential ethical harm and provides guidelines on the design and operation of robots through their whole lifecycle. It builds on existing safety requirements for different types of robots (e.g. industrial, personal care, service and medical)

This British Standard describes ethical hazards associated with robots and provides guidance to eliminate or reduce the risks associated with these ethical hazards. Significant ethical hazards are presented, and guidance given on how these hazards may be addressed for various robots. It should be noted that the proposed mitigations may not be sufficient for all scenarios and may need to be reconsidered in order to adequately address the ethical hazard.

Ethical hazards are broader than physical hazards; they additionally include psychological, social and environmental hazards. Thus, physical and ethical hazards and safety design features are part of ethical design. Safety elements are covered by safety standards; this British Standard is concerned with ethical elements.

This British Standard is intended for use by designers, managers, operators, and systems integrators, amongst others.

Purpose

Since publication of BS8611 in 2016 the robotics sector has developed further and new types of robots and robotic devices have emerged with associated ethical issues and hazards. AMT/10/1 have since been gathering data on such developments to determine how best to maintain this guide.

This revision will update Table 1, Clause 5 and Clause 7, specifically, to enable users of this standard to better identify ethical risks. There will also be editorial corrections and renumbering throughout.