(25 set) How to compensate a user that gets hurt using a robotic device? How to establish rules on the liability of the damage, encouraging technological research with the production of more advanced devices, which are characterized by the highest quality standards? The first steps towards the definition of the “Robotic Law” were just made in Brussels, where Erica Palmerini, professor of Private Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa and coordinator of “RoboLaw” together with Andrea Bertolini, has presented the final document of the ambitious European project that, for the first time, tries to trace the guidelines for the regulation of robotics. The Commission and the European Parliament has been presented the study of some of the most important emerging technologies attributable to the large field of robotics (particularly autonomous vehicles, prosthetics and exoskeletons, and surgical robots for domestic use) and have been offered recommendations on how the EU could act on their regulation. According to Palmerini and the RoboLaw team, it’s necessary to offer concrete solutions to the individual problems that technologies present today and those that may present in a medium term horizon, with the understanding that the adjustment is a continuous process. The first indication is that it makes no sense “to define uniform solutions” to be used for the entire sector of robotics, as this reference is too wide. “During the research – said the professor – it was decided to adopt a casuistic because the term robot is, in fact, not technical. The related technologies are differentiated and cover both an automatic vacuum cleaner, as prosthetics and exoskeletons, autonomous vehicles, drones, robots, and even so-called surgical robot for personal use.”(Red)
