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Moral Dilemmas in Social Robots: An Exploratory Study for Future Research

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Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14013))

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Abstract

This study examines the ethical issues related to technological advancements in social robots. We argue that a relationship exists between the emergence of social robots and various ethical dilemmas that may affect humans. Prior research lacks an in-depth investigation of moral preferences for using social robots to offer integrated and smart applications/services to organizations, businesses, and societies. This paper presents an exploratory study with 12 individuals from a social robot course in the Winter of 2021 online during the pandemic. We used ten short scenarios elicited through a systematic literature review process. The scenarios covered unique factors, such as monetary repercussions, emotional harm, physical threat, cyberprivacy invasion, and self-defense. The results highlight trends and counter-intuitive outcomes that provide scholars and practitioners with setting future research directions.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported with Research Incentive Fund (RIF), activity code: R21111, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Muhammad Umair Shah

  2. Faculty of Business and IT, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, ON, Canada

    Patrick C. K. Hung, Robee Kassandra Adajar & Inon Wiratsin

  3. College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Farkhund Iqbal

Authors
  1. Muhammad Umair Shah
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  2. Patrick C. K. Hung
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  3. Farkhund Iqbal
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  4. Robee Kassandra Adajar
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  5. Inon Wiratsin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Umair Shah .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan

    Masaaki Kurosu

  2. Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Ayako Hashizume

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Shah, M.U., Hung, P.C.K., Iqbal, F., Adajar, R.K., Wiratsin, I. (2023). Moral Dilemmas in Social Robots: An Exploratory Study for Future Research. In: Kurosu, M., Hashizume, A. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14013. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35602-5_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35602-5_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-35601-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-35602-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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