Robot Rights in the Era of Robolution and the Acceptance of Robots from the Slovak Citizen's Perspective

Some call it the Fourth Industrial Revolution, some Robolution. We are living in the age of automation technology, robotics and artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives is on the increase and covers many fields of activity from production assistance in factories to vacuum cleaners in the household, telepresence robotics, self-driving cars/buses and flying drones. Generally, we can compare this revolution with those of computers and the Internet. But Robolution raises numerous legal questions and encounters difficulties of acceptance in both the industrial and social sectors. There are serious problems with the claim that conscious robots should have rights just as humans do, and this is what this paper plans to explore. The aim of our paper was threefold: first, to define the robot; second, to discuss robot rights issues in general; and, third, to examine the acceptance of robots from the Slovak citizen's perspective. The data of the survey were collected in August 2018 from e-mail interviews with 647 persons. The results show there is a higher acceptance of the use of robots in everyday life (health issues, self-driving cars/buses) and in households than in the work environment. Among the respondents, 61% think that dependence on machines and desktop screens should be reduced. Our results show that attitudes toward robots are positive in many sectors. Yet there is a need for a comprehensive strategy of robot handling and robot rights to help us gain a better understanding of robot acceptance.