Perspectives on Moral Agency in Human-Robot Interaction

Establishing when, how, and why robots should be considered moral agents is key for advancing human-robot interaction. For instance, whether a robot is considered a moral agent has significant implications for how researchers, designers, and users can, should, and do make sense of robots and whether their agency in turn triggers social and moral cognitive and behavioral processes in humans. Robotic moral agency also has significant implications for how people should and do hold robots morally accountable, ascribe blame to them, develop trust in their actions, and determine when these robots wield moral influence. In this workshop on Perspectives on Moral Agency in Human-Robot Interaction, we plan to bring together participants who are interested in or have studied the topics concerning a robot’s moral agency and its impact on human behavior. We intend to provide a platform for holding interdisciplinary discussions about (1) which elements should be considered to determine the moral agency of a robot, (2) how these elements can be measured, (3) how they can be realized computationally and applied to the robotic system, and (4) what societal impact is anticipated when moral agency is assigned to a robot. We encourage participants from diverse research fields, such as computer science, psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy, as well as participants from social groups marginalized in terms of gender, ethnicity, and culture.