A Review on the Concept of “Robot” as a Legal Term: as an Improvement plan of ｢Intelligent Robots Development and Distribution Promotion Act｣

As the importance of the role of the state in the development of modern science and technology does not require additional discussion, so the development of our country's robot industry will ask for continuous review to see whether the current robot industry promotion legislation has sufficient content for robot industry promotion or it can be improved. Such review work is also an essential part for the realization of the principle of the rule of law that state intervention should always be carried out under the support of appropriate laws. For the effective conceptual regulation of “robot”, the target of policy, should be preceded to secure industrial competitiveness related to robot technology and promote policies for continuous development of robot industry, the study examines the appropriateness of the definition of “intelligent robot” of the current 「Intelligent Robots Development and Distribution Promotion Act」 - “The term "intelligent robot" means a mechanical device(including software required for operating the mechanical device) that perceives the external environment for itself, discerns circumstances, and moves voluntarily”(Article 2, 1.) - from the point of view of the analysis of systemicity(; Systematik) and understandability(Verständlichkeit) among the examination creteria of the legislative evaluation(Gesetzesevaluation). In conclusion, the concept of “intelligent robot” in the current law does not mean much in the legal system and it is not easy to understand either. And there is also a risk of unnecessarily reducing the applicable scope of the law in practice. So there is a need of deleting the modifier “intelligent” and it is proposed to use a semi-exemplary definition of an exemplary arrangement of targets for the robot industry promotion and support policy based on the concept of “robot” from a more technical point of view,