New Roadmap For Robotics

Weighing in at over 100 pages, the report is full of guidelines and recommendations that experts believe require funding and attention from Congress moving forward, as well as providing policymakers enough information to more accurately determine optimal allocation of resources.

Since the first report (and a 2013 revision) drones, driverless cars, and all sorts of assistive robots have taken centre stage due to their accelerating development. Integrating these systems into daily life is seen as one of the primary goals, and to that end, the importance of STEM education is highlighted.

Both safety and liability feature in the section on the legal and ethical context, recommending the collaboration of people with specialised trading to oversee the use of robotics systems in difficult and dangerous jobs, while the issue of insurance is raised for when those accidents do happen. 

The impact of robotics on labour is of prime concern to people, not only in the US, but around the world, as the reality of automation approaches. Having effects in the short, medium, and long term, it looks at how innovation and creation of jobs has followed previous automation in history, while maintaining possible options for ensuring that this is the case, such as a universal income. 

Privacy and security are also mentioned, given how robotics can enable easier surveillance, noting that the government and other bodies are already working to address some of these concerns, and that the removing barriers to research will assist in these efforts enormously.