The Religious Impacts of Taoism on Ethically Aligned Design in HRI

As robots become more and more ubiquitous in human society, the study of their emergence becomes critical to assessing robot performance and appropriateness for different applications, and for employment across countries with different cultural backgrounds. Throughout history, religion has been a major element in all human cultures, and there is a long history of religious commentary on the idea of automation. With emerging robotic platforms and applications already beginning to touch on the subject of religion, now is the right time to begin discussing this potentially controversial topic. The objective of this article is to analyze what impacts Taoist religion may have on the use of Ethically Aligned Design in future human–robot interaction.