IEEE 7007-2021

This standard establishes a set of ontologies with different abstraction levels that contain concepts, definitions, axioms, and use cases that are deemed relevant and appropriate to establish ethically driven methodologies for the design of robots and automation (R&A) systems.

The purpose of the standard is to establish a set of definitions and their relationships to enable the development of R&A in accordance with shared values and internationally accepted ethical principles that facilitate trust in the creation and use of R&A. Emphasis is placed on the alignment of ethics and engineering to enable communities to understand how to pragmatically design and implement these systems within the context of a values-based society. These definitions allow for precise communications among global experts of different domains that include robotics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and ethics. The use of ontologies for representing knowledge in any domain has several benefits that include the following: a) A formal definition of concepts of a particular domain in a language-independent representation, i.e., they are not dependent on a specific programming language, however, they are formally described to be implemented in a target language b) Tools for analyzing concepts and their relationships in searching for inconsistency, incompleteness, and redundancy c) Language being used in the communication process among robots from different manufacturers Users of this standard are responsible for being apprised of and referring to appropriate, applicable ethical criteria for consideration during system design. Moreover, users should consult all applicable laws and regulations. Conformance to the provisions of this voluntary standard does not constitute compliance to any applicable regulatory requirements. Users of the standard are responsible for observing or referring to the applicable laws and regulations.

New IEEE Standard - Active. A set of ontologies with different abstraction levels that contain concepts, definitions, axioms, and use cases that assist in the development of ethically driven methodologies for the design of robots and automation systems is established by this standard. It focuses on the robotics and automation domain without considering any particular applications and can be used in multiple ways, for instance, during the development of robotics and automation systems as a guideline or as a reference “taxonomy” to enable clear and precise communication among members from different communities that include robotics and automation, ethics, and correlated areas. Users of this standard need to have a minimal knowledge of formal logics to understand the axiomatization expressed in Common Logic Interchange Format. Additional information can be found at https://standards.ieee.org/industry-connections/ec/autonomous-systems.html. (The PDF of this standard is available in the IEEE GET program at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/browse/standards/get-program/page/series?id=93)