The University of Udine (Italy) is at the forefront of interdisciplinary research on robotics and autonomous technologies, particularly thanks to the activities organised by the Research Laboratory for New Media (NuMe) led by Prof. Leopoldina Fortunati.
On 3 April 2017, the NuMe laboratory organised the workshop “Smart robots and Industry4.0 – Concerns and perspectives between law and computer science”. ERAdiate member Dr. Giuseppe Lugano was invited to contribute by giving a talk on “self-driving cars as social robots”. The other speakers introduced relevant and complementary perspectives on the topic: Prof. Costantini (Univ. of Udine) talked about the concept of “electronic person”, which was recently introduced in a draft resolution by the European Parliament. Prof. Montessoro (Univ. of Udine) presented information security issues in the Internet of Things, while lawyer Cristina Franchi illustrated new scenarios in terms of liability and copyrights in the world of smart robots.
The presentations prompted considerations on the relationship between technology and human behaviour, as well as legal frameworks that are needed to protect citizens from technology misuse or unexpected malfunctioning. The whole background concept of “Industry4.0” was fitting, since many parallel technological advancements do not represent only an opportunity for higher efficiency to enterprises, but also a paradigm shift for society. In this sense, autonomous driving and self-driving cars are expected to be among the key drivers of the “fourth industrial revolution” since they encompass all Industry4.0 technological developments (illustrated in the figure below, such as artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, cloud computing, Internet of Things).
The open discussion that followed the presentations stimulated remarks and questions from the audience, which ranged from purely academic issues to more business-oriented and even philosophical considerations on our lives in the near-future society.
