2.  Description of the Problem  Contemporary Legal Questions of Robotics  Legal Status: Rights and Obligations of Robots?  Legal regulation of technological Progress  Overview: Research Center „RobotLaw“

3. research group producer 2 producer 1 producer 4 producer 3 software engineer user

4. Private Law  Contracts: ◦ contracts about robots ◦ contracts by robots  Damages (contract based)  Damages (non-contract based)  Insurance  Data Protection

5. Public Law  robots as source of danger  robots as help against danger  New regulations: ◦ Police and Security Law ◦ Supervision by State Institutions ◦ Necessity of Authorisations ◦ Data Protection

6. Criminal Law  Negligence of the different participants ◦ causality? ◦ obligations of researcher ◦ obligations of producer ◦ obligations of user  §§ 315 ff. StGB ◦ robots as vehicles?  Data Protection

7.  Example: “Autonomous Scooter” (AAL) Fit4Mobility Project, Chair Informatics VII : Robotics and Telematics University of Wuerzburg

8.  Characteristics ◦ Requirements  foreseeability  avoidability of legal rights harm ◦ Legal Evaluation  objective measure  group specific evaluation Art. 41 - Swiss Code of Obligations 1 Any person who unlawfully causes loss or damage to another, whether wilfully or negligently, is obliged to provide compensation.

9.  Problem ◦ If no foreseeability? ◦ If no avoidability? ◦ Or is any danger of a robot foreseeable and avoidable?  Proposal for Solution ◦ absolute strict liability? ◦ analogous application of other rules? ◦ (ideas: product liability (producer), liability for animals or children (user))

10.  Currently no explicit regulation in Swiss Law  e.g: Analogous application of Art. 55 Swiss Code of Obligations (controversial!)  Analogous application of laws on animals, or minor in torts law?  New similar regulation in Swiss Code of Obligations for “autonomous robots”? Art. 55 - Swiss Code of Obligations 1 An employer is liable […] for damage caused by […] ancillary staff in the performance of their work unless he proves that he took all due care to avoid a […] damage of this type or that the […] damage would have occurred even if all due care had been taken

11.  Still not many companies are prepared to insure all kinds of robots  Current Situation: ◦ No suitable categories ◦ Additional insurance rate Robot DustCart; Photo of Foto Silvi, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Vol 18, No. 1, March 2011, p. 64 Fit4Mobility Project, Chair Informatics VII : Robotics and Telematics; University of Wuerzburg

13.  robots as tool  robots as messenger  robots as agent  robots as holder of indirect rights  robots as holder of specific rights without obligations  robots as holder of specific obligations without rights  robots as holder of specific rights and obligations  robots as human-like legal subjects

14. Opinion 1:  intentionality  responsivity for reasons  wishes of second order  sanity  intended and foreseeable consequences Opinion 2:  self-awareness  social competence  legal usefulness Do obligations lead to rights?

15.  transferring human categories onto non-human entities  internal states are not provable  deepening of the human-machine-dualism  looking at status, not at action / risks / distribution

16.  distancing the debate from human categories  changing the question: ◦ not: are machines like / similar to humans ◦ but: which special status could machines have? ◦ or: how should the action be evaluated / the risk be distributed between the participants?  suggestion: constructing the „e-person“ as an analogy to a „legal person“  specific rights and obligations, robot-register  depending on the specific machine, production (contributors), use, advantages, possible dangers

17. ◦ Certain areas of law allow some adaption to technological progress – esp. Civil Law ◦ New regulations have to weigh advantages against possible risks ◦ Decisions of society have to be implemented in regulations, systems have to be adapted ◦ Close cooperation with other disciplines are necessary to base laws on the reality of the technology ◦ In robotics, new laws will be necessary in all areas of law ◦ Law can only provide the framework – many decisions will have to be made by society, by the producers and users and the market.

18.  Collecting legal problems on „robots“  Conferences and Speeches on specific aspects  Publications on specific aspects ◦ Practical aspects (e.g. liability, insurance, data protection) ◦ Philosophical aspects  Handbook „Robotics and Law“ (2013)  Practical advice for researchers and producers (e.g.: „black box“)  Suggestions for Legal Solutions (mainly on EU- level), e.g. „the electronic person“

19. www.en.robotrecht.de Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice, Legal Theory, Information and Computer Science Law Susanne Beck Jan-Philipp Günther Berthold Haustein Eric Hilgendorf