Can You Teach a Robot How Not to Be a Jerk?

For some people, the only thing scarier than a robot is a rude robot. But what if you could teach robots how to be polite — even ethical?

Robots can be programmed to think and use absolute logic to make good decisions. They're best, though, when the task and desired outcomes are known. Variables, like human interaction, can be accounted for, but good luck getting a robot to intuit what us emotional humans are thinking or understand our intent. Some experts though, believe robots can be trained to do the right thing.

AJung Moon has been working on developing robots that know right from wrong and can act accordingly. She's focused, in particular, on what she calls "robot ethics." She's so committed to the cause that her Twitter handle is actually @RoboEthics. Read more...