Embedding Responsible Computing and Ethical Considerations in Robotics Development
Social robots are increasingly gaining prominence in education—particularly in tutoring and social training—as well as in healthcare and social care settings. As robots become more integrated into these environments, it is crucial to ensure that they can build trusting relationships with people and operate in ethically and culturally acceptable ways.
The Responsible Computing (RC) project seeks to embed responsible computing and ethical considerations in robotics design and development.
Ensuring robots are designed to serve diverse populations, including individuals with disabilities and those from different cultural backgrounds.
Prioritizing fairness, transparency, trust, and privacy in robotic interactions.
Considering the economic and social aspects, ensuring that they promote empathy.
Our flagship projects funded by the Mozilla Foundation focus on embedding ethical considerations into robotics and computing education.
JKUAT received a 2023 Responsible Computing Challenge (RCC) award from the Mozilla Foundation to train and embed ethical considerations into the development of robotics. This project focuses on teaching responsible computing through designing robot applications.
The first part of this project aims to integrate responsible computing (RC) and ethics in the design process of final-year student ICT Innovations. The second part involves integrating RC and ethics in the assessment criteria and supervision of final-year student projects.
The project aims to examine past Final Year computing projects with the intention of building a responsible computing framework for future ICT projects, with input from industry stakeholders. This project aims to further integrate responsible computing into final-year ICT projects by developing an RC framework, training faculty, and guiding students in applying these principles. We will also engage stakeholders, expand the initiative to other programs, and develop a software tool to support the RC framework implementation.
Interested in this research area? Explore our team and other projects.