ROBOLAW.ASIA Research

Robots, Public Law and Regulation

Since 2004, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has published a series of Robot Policy Guidelines which address business and safety issues for ?Next Generation Robots?. They predicted a ?Human-Robot Coexistence Society? that will emerge by 2030. However, it is a step-by-step gradual process for these robots entering into the everyday lives of people. We believe that intelligent robots will be the next revolutionary technology after PCs and the Internet. Therefore, we established ROBOLAW.ASIA Initiative to investigate the intersection between artificial intelligence & law. Our main objective is to minimize risks from robots into an acceptable range.
An emerging problem might be whether we should consider addressing new regulation impact on service robots. Under the current legal system, service robots are merely a property or ?the second existence?; it is not enough to protect safety and moral risks in regards to human-robot co-existence. In other words, the new perspective of regulation shall be established under the premise of service robots as ?the third existence? legal entity; robots are still the object of law, and they shall have a special legal status different from normal machines. However, the difficulty of implementing new regulations for service robots is something similar to the case of regulating steam powered cars in the 19th century. It?s a ?Regulation of Unknown?. On one hand, such machines could cause deadly consequences to human beings without proper regulation. On the other hand, it is difficult for regulators to keep up with the progress of advanced technology. Therefore, thereis a tendency for over-regulation, similar to the case of the steam powered cars in the past.
To avoid repeating the Red Flag Laws in the era of intelligent robots, we can first consider ?Deregulation? while referring the ?Tokku? RT special zone. A special area such as this one can help regulators and manufacturers identify many unexpected risks during the final stage prior to the robots' practical application. Originated from Japan, the history of RT special zone is merely 10 years long, but there are already many special zones established in Fukuoka, Osaka, Gifu, Kanagawa and Tsukuba. As the development of robotics and its acceptance to society expand, the importance of special zones as an interface for robots and society will be more apparent.
Furthermore, we need to be aware of the importance of public law and regulation. While it does not refer to the debate on issues of robot rights or robots to be recognized as the subject of law from the Constitution, it does mention making public regulation for the design, manufacture, selling, and usage of advanced robotics. A possibility could be developing the ?Robot Safety Governance Act?, which is the extension of current machine safety regulations. These technical norms located at the bottom of ?Robot Law? will ensure the safety of new human-robot co-existence.
Finally, robot ethics and legal regulation should not always be in parallel, because from the regulation perspective, robot law is an intersection of robot ethics and robotics. We might don?t need Red Flag Laws for Pepper robots, but it depends on what moral stands and actions we take toward the regulation of unknown.

Contribution:

01. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Yusuke Sugahara, Kenji Hashimoto, Atsuo Takanishi (2015) Intersection of ?Tokku? Special Zone, Robots, and the Law: A Case Study on Legal Impacts to Humanoid Robots, International Journal of Social Robotics, Vol. 7, No. 5, Page 841-857, Springer [LINK]
02. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Gurvinder S. Virk, Shuping Yang (2015) The Safety for Human-Robot Co-Existing: On New ISO 13482 Safety Standard for Service Robots, Internet Law Review, Vol. 17, Page 229-244, Peking University Press [LINK]
03. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2014) Introduction to Applications and Challenges of Emerging Technologies, Master Course: The Laws of Cyberspace, 10:00-12:00, Room 121, TSMC Building, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, December 11th 2014
04. Erica Palmerini, Pericle Salvini, Andrea Bertolini, et al (2014) Guidelines on Regulating Robotics, EU FP7 Project: ROBOLAW [LINK]
05. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Dominic Hillenbrand (2014) The Intelligentization of Automobiles: Smart-Cars, Robo-Cars and their Safety Governance, Journal of Science, Technology and Law (STL), No.4, General Issue 110, Page 632-646, 2014 [LINK]
06. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2014) The Study of Safety Governance for Service Robots: On Open-Texture Risk, Ph.D. Dissertation, Peking University Law School, Beijing, May, 2014 [LINK]
07. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2014) A Review on Military Robots and Warfare, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 10, No. 4
08. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2014) The Robot - Technology, Ethics and Law, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 10, No. 3
09. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2014) Robots - A Historical Review, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 10, No. 2
10. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2013) Special Interview on ?Robot Law in Europe? - with Prof. Dr. Eric Hilgendorf, ROBOLAW.ASIA Initiative [LINK]
11. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2013) Special Interview on ?Law and Drone Warfare? - with Prof. Dr. Christof Heyns , ROBOLAW.ASIA Initiative [LINK]
12. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012-2014) Supporting External Network, EU FP7 Project: ROBOLAW, Scuola Superiore Sant?Anna, Pisa, Italy, June 2012 - September 2014 [LINK]
13. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) (4) Social Robots: Robot Companions for Citizens: with Prof. Dr. Paolo Dario, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 8, No. 5
14. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Sophie T.H. Zhao (2012) The Legal Challenges of Networked Robotics: From the Safety Intelligence Perspective, M. Palmirani et al. (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science(LNCS): AI Approaches to the Complexity of Legal Systems, Vol. 7639, Page 61-72, Springer Berlin Heidelberg [LINK]
15. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2011) The Open-Texture Risk in the Human-Robot Co-Existence Society: A Review on ?Open Robotics?, Internet Law Review, Vol. 13, Peking University Press [LINK]
16. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2009) Toward The Human-Robot Co-Existence Society: On Legislative Consortium for Social Robotics, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (IEEE ICRA?09) Workshop on Legal and Safety Issues Related to Autonomous Networked Robots Operating in Urban Environments, (10:40~11:05) Room 404, Kobe International Convention Center, Kobe, 13th May 2009 [LINK]
17. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Chien-Hsun Chen and Cheun-Tsai Sun (2007) The Legal Crisis of Next Generation Robots: On Safety Intelligence, Paper presented on The Eleventh International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law (ICAIL'07). Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, California, USA [ Acceptance Rate: 26% ] [PDF]

Internet Law and Public Policy

After observing the internet, one of the fathers of the internet Dr. Vinton G. Cerf said, ?Virtual and real worlds will merge. Virtual interactions will have real world consequences. Control of the electrical grid and power generation systems could be made to appear to be part of a virtual environment in which actions in the virtual space affect actions in the real space.?
Current robots have difficulty understanding unstructured environments due to the inherent diversity and unpredictability of phenomena in the real world. However, new developments like ubiquitous computing, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and next-generation internet technologies will make it easier for networked robots to get structured information about their physical environment. For China?s 12th Five- Year Plan (2011-2015), establishing domestic cloud computing and the ?Internet of Things Industry? is part of the objectives of its Seven Strategic Emerging Industries Plan. It will bring strong impact for the development of Networked Robotics in China, for example smart houses, intelligent transportation, automated logistic, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to observe and analyze the technical and legal risks for Networked Robotics technology.

Contribution:

01. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2013) Contractual Issues and Service Level Agreements for Cloud Computing, Internet Law Review, Vol. 15, Peking University Press [LINK]
02. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) (1) The Internet of Things and Automation: Overlapping the Real and Virtual Worlds, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 8, No. 5
03. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) (2) Intelligent Transportation: Addressing the Liability Impact of Automated Systems: with Prof. Dr. Giovanni Sartor and Dr. Giuseppe Contissa, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 8, No. 5
04. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) (3) Smart Grid: A Balance between Network Economy and Information Security: with Dr. Xian He, Vol. 8, No. 5, PKU Internet Law Watch, 2012
05. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) Law & Networked Robotics: Some legal Issues on the Internet of Things, Aula 6, 12:00-15:00, SSSA Seminar, Scuola Superiore Sant?Anna, Pisa, June 6th 2012
06. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2012) Yahoo! Research Grant, ?The Internet of Things and Automation: Legislation and Policy Research?, PKU-Yahoo! Internet Law Center
07. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Sophie T.H. Zhao (2011) The Legal Challenges of Networked Robotics: From the Safety Intelligence Perspective, XXV. IVR World Congress on Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy Special Workshop on AICOL, (16:00~16:20) Room HZ 8, Building N.4, Goethe-Universit?t Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, 15th August 2011 [LINK]
08. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2011) Networked Robots: A Brief Look at Its Possible Legal Implications, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (IEEE ICRA?11) Workshop on Roboethics, (16:30~17:00) Room 5B, SHICC, Shanghai, 13th May 2011 [PDF]
09. Chien-Hsun Chen (2010) Cloud Technology: Introduction to International Trend of Cloud Computing, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 6, No. 5
10. Yuan Mu (2010) Cloud Structure: Normative Analysis of the Definition and Structure of Cloud Computing, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 6, No. 5
11. Seth Wang (2010) Cloud Risks: The Analysis on the Technological Risks of Cloud Computing, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 6, No. 5
12. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2010) Cloud Regulation: Toward a Legal Framework from Social System Design Perspective, PKU Internet Law Watch, Vol. 6, No. 5
13. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2010) Technology Review: On Cloud Computing and Virtualization, PKU Cyberlaw Workshop, 17:00-19:00, China Technology Exchange Center, Zhongguancun, Beijing, October 16th 2010 [LINK]
14. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (2010) Yahoo! Research Grant, ?Cloud Computing and the Network Social System Design Perspective?, PKU-Yahoo! Internet Law Center

Free Access to Law and CHINA-LII

Since 1949, there are about 500,000 Chinese laws and regulations in total, and a sustainable growth is expected in the next decade. However, these abundant Primary Legal Sources lack an easy accessible platform to enable Law via the Internet. In China, legal information service is dominated by Pay-As-You-Go principle, these legal database are designed for high-end customers such as law firms. We can see that this Pay-As-You-Go situation is not favorable for Chinese and foreign layman to access e-legal archives. This may prevent China from implementing necessary laws. Therefore, we will need a platform to ensure that Primary Legal Sources can be freely accessed.
The origin of CHINA-LII was from a panel discussion at Villa Schifanoia of European University Institute (EUI), Florence, and later the co-founders Dr. Yueh-Hsuan Weng and Mr. Seth Wang established its prototype at Changchunyuan of Peking University, Beijing in 2012. A summary of the panel discussion was also published in the ?Internet Law Review? (2013). In 2014, the Executive Secretary Prof. Dr. Ginevra Peruginelli on behalf of CHINA-LII presented the concept platform at the 3rd Peking-Stanford-Oxford Joint Conference on Internet Law and Public Policy in Beijing, and they obtained considerable success also from Oxford and Stanford professors with whom we are still in contact.

Contribution:

01. Ginevra Peruginelli (2014) Internet Governance and Free Access to Law: A Glance, The Third Peking-Stanford-Oxford Joint Conference on Internet Law and Public Policy, 14:50-16:15, Academic Hall, KoGuan Building, Peking University Law School, Beijing, November 22nd 2014 [LINK]
02. Yueh-Hsuan Weng, Giovanni Sartor, Giuseppe Contissa, Enrico Francesconi, Ginevra Peruginelli (2013) Law via the Internet: Why there is no LII for China?, Internet Law Review, Vol. 15, Peking University Press [LINK]