Robotics, Society, and Labour
This project aimed at researching the modifications arising out of the introduction of robots in daily life and its impact on law, in the context of organisational modifications and the subsequent need for adapting legal rules. This project started from the computational reality, alongside the most recent technical developments, and a process of legal reflection on the consequences of the introduction of software and robots with higher and higher degrees of autonomy began. Technical concepts were the starting point. We intended to consider the adaptation of scientific, computational concepts to the legal framework. These concepts include “agent” and “object” as well as “robot” and “mechanism. Thereafter, traditional legal concepts and institutes have been revisited. The problems of wil,l considering the existence of intentional states in software and robots, have been equated. On this basis, both civil and criminal forms of liability and torts have been challenged and developed, bearing in mind the features of the new electronic entities, such as their autonomy, ability to learn, proactivity, and social behaviour. The impacts on organised society were then analysed. This was done both at the level of public administration, considering the transformation and adaptation of the urban areas to a new kind of connectivity and interactivity (smart cities), and at the level of entrepreneurial organisations, with particular focus on the modifications that will necessarily occur in the domain of labour relationships.
Duration: 2019-2021
PI: Francisco Pacheco de Andrade
Co-PI: Teresa Coelho Moreira
Team: Diogo Azevedo, Joana Covelo de Abreu, Marciele Berger Bernardes, Paulo Jorge Freitas Novais, Pedro Freitas, Sónia Moreira, Tiago Azevedo.
Partners: Centro de Investigação Algoritmi (University of Minho), Telles and Associates – Law Firm.