Getting collaborative robots to work: A study of ethics emerging during the implementation of cobots

Abstract

Following ethnographic studies of Danish companies, this article examines how small-and medium-sized companies are implementing cobots into their manufacturing systems and considers how this is changing the practices of technicians and operators alike. It considers how this changes human values and has ethical consequences for the companies involved. By presenting a range of dilemmas arising during emergent processes, it raises questions about the extent to which ethics can be regulated and predetermined in processes of robot implementation and the resulting reconfiguration of work.