Abstract
This disclosure describes how governed robots behave in private homes. The household declares, through a settings record held on the robot and signed by an adult member, zones (such as bedrooms and bathrooms), times (such as night) and classes of people (members, guests, children) together with what the robot may do in each: enter, move, see, hear, record, or none. The robot's independent safety plane enforces these settings as limits that the robot's software and its maker cannot loosen. Data the robot senses stays in the home by default; any data leaving the home, including for the maker's improvement of its models, requires the household's consent to that specific purpose, which can be withdrawn, and every transfer is recorded in a log the household can read. Guests and children receive stricter defaults, recognised by class only and never by identity. A visible and audible privacy state on the robot shows at all times whether it is seeing, hearing or recording. A remote operator, such as the maker's support or a teleoperator, may connect only after an adult member consents to that session, and the session is shown on the robot and recorded. Any departure from the settings, such as a failed enforcement, an unexpected transfer or an unconsented connection, is recorded and reported to the household, and is a finding against the robot's certification. Where a home has several robots, indoors and outdoors, one household settings record governs them all through a home coordinator that can only tighten and is never in any robot's stop path; a home twin, holding the layout of the home and garden at the resolution the household allows, is used to rehearse each robot's routes and the effect of new settings before they apply; outdoor robots keep their sensing within the household's boundary, follow the rules for public places beyond it, and hand over to indoor robots at the door only after a mutual check.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Wang, Edward D. H., "SI Robot at Home™: Governed Behaviour of Robots in Private Homes, in which the Household Declares Zones, Times and People-Classes that Bind the Robot's Movement, Sensing and Recording, Data Stays in the Home unless the Household Consents to Each Purpose, Guests and Children Receive Stricter Defaults, a Visible Privacy State Shows What the Robot Senses, Remote Operators Enter Only by Household Consent, Every Departure from the Household's Settings Is Recorded and Reported, and Several Robots Indoors and Outdoors Are Governed Together through a Home Twin and a Home Coordinator that Can Only Tighten", Technical Disclosure Commons, ()
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/13004