Ethical and Social Considerations for the Introduction of Human-Centered Technologies at Work

Abstract

Human-centered technologies such as collaborative robots, exoskeletons, and wearable sensors are rapidly spreading in industry and manufacturing because of their intrinsic potential at assisting workers and improving their working conditions. The deployment of these technologies, albeit inevitable, poses several ethical and societal issues. Guidelines for ethically aligned design of autonomous and intelligent systems do exist, however we argue that ethical recommendations must necessarily be complemented by an analysis of the social impact of these technologies. In this paper, we report on our preliminary studies on the opinion of factory workers and of people outside this environment on human-centered technologies at work. In light of these studies, we discuss ethical and social considerations for deploying these technologies in a way that improves acceptance.