Abstract
This disclosure describes a recorder for governed robots, of the kind long used in aircraft and road vehicles, adapted to robots controlled by AI and to the people around them. The recorder captures, in a rolling window, the robot's sensor summaries, decisions, commands, admissions and refusals by the safety plane, the twin version in use, and stops. Each record is chained to the previous one and signed by the independent safety plane, so that removal or alteration is evident. The records are encrypted so that no single party, whether the maker, the operator or the owner, can open them alone: opening requires keys held by declared parties together, such as the owner and an accredited investigator, under published rules. When an incident or near miss is detected, or a person presses a stop, the recorder seals the window around it automatically, so that the evidence cannot be overwritten. Personal data of people near the robot is minimised at the point of recording: the recorder keeps what is needed to understand the robot's behaviour, such as positions and distances, rather than identifiable images, unless the declared profile requires more, and identifiable data is held under stricter keys and shorter retention. Investigators replay the sealed records on the robot's twin version that was in use at the time. The recorder's health, including its storage, its chain and its keys, is checked continuously, and a robot whose recorder is unhealthy loses its live certification mark and is stepped down until repaired. A robot's reports of near misses are protected from use against those who reported them, to encourage reporting.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Wang, Edward D. H., "SI Robot Recorder™: A Tamper-Evident Recorder for Governed Robots, Chained and Sealed by an Independent Safety Plane, whose Records Cannot Be Opened by the Maker or the Operator Alone but Only by Declared Parties Together under Published Rules, that Seals Its Window Automatically at an Incident or Near Miss, Minimises Personal Data of People Nearby, Replays on the Twin Version in Use at the Time, and Whose Health Is a Condition of the Robot's Live Certification", Technical Disclosure Commons, ()
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/12895