LIAISON

FSTP from the H2020 COVR Project

Liaising robot development & policymaking

This project aims to link robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity in robot legal compliance in the context of COVR.

Background

COVR stands for "being safe around collaborative and versatile robots in shared spaces" and is an H2020 COVR Project is a European project that aims to reduce the complexity in safety certifying cobots significantly. In this respect, the project has developed the COVR Toolkit. This online tool guides developers on their legal compliance process, from helping them find relevant standards/directives/protocols to guide them on how to do a risk assessment.

Since robots widely differ in embodiment, capabilities, context of use, intended target users, and many regulations may already apply to them, having tools such as the COVR Toolkit can be very helpful. However, new robot applications may not fit into existing robot categories, and legislation (private and public policy making) might be outdated and include confusing types. In the context of H2020 COVR, LIAISON investigates to what extent we could use compliance tools as data generators for policymakers to unravel an optimal regulatory framing for existing and emerging robot technologies. The goal is to link robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity in robot legal compliance.

The project LIAISON

In this respect, LIAISON will conceive a practical way to extract compliance and technical knowledge from compliance tools that help developers comply with the legislation, such as the COVR toolkit. The goal is to direct this knowledge to policymakers to help them work out an adequate regulatory framing (including change, revise, or reinterpret) that reflect the existing and emerging robot landscape.

LIAISON aligns with the overall H2020 COVR goal to reduce complexity in safety certifying robots by providing policymakers with the necessary knowledge about legal inconsistencies, new categories, or new safety requirements (including psychological) to update existing frameworks. For more information read this journal publication and in this book chapter.

The model

Deliverables

Milestone 1

LIAISON _ MS1 _ D1.1. Report safety standards’ uncovered challenges.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), COVR LIAISON – D1.1 Report on safety standards’ uncovered challenges LIAISON nr. MS1. Leiden: eLaw / Leiden University.

LIAISON _ MS1 _ D1.2. _ Report usefulness of LIAISON.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON – D1.2 Report on usefulness of LIAISON. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

LIAISON _ MS1 _ D1.3. Report exploratory meetings with relevant policymakers.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON – D1.3 Report on exploratory meetings with relevant policy/standard makers eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

Milestone 2

LIAISON_MS2_D2.1 Recommendations for the COVR Toolkit update_V2.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON - D2.1 Recommendations for the COVR Toolkit update, eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

LIAISON_MS2_D2.2. Lecture on the 'future of law'_V2 .pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON, D2.2 | Lecture on the ‘future of law’. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

LIAISON_MS2_D2.3. Academic publication(s) featuring the future of robot governance_V2.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON D2.3 | Academic publication featuring the future of robot governance. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.


LIAISON_MS2_D2.4. Two policy briefs for standard and policy makers_V2.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON - D2.4 | Policy brief for standard and policymakers (EU & NEN). eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

LIAISON_MS2_D2.5 LIAISON Lessons learned and evaluation report.pdf

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON - D2.5 | LIAISON Lessons learned and evaluation report. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

LIAISON _ MS2 _ D2.6. Results and achievements M2.pptx

Fosch Villaronga E. & Drukarch H.G. (2021), H2020 COVR FSTP LIAISON - D2.6 |MS2 COVR presentation describing MS2 results and achievements. eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University.

CWA 17835:2022 on Guidelines for the development and use of safety testing procedures in human-robot collaboration

As a result of his participation to LIAISON and the H2020 COVR, Dr. Eduard Fosch-Villaronga contributed to the CEN Workshop Agreement CWA 17835:2022 on Guidelines for the development and use of safety testing procedures in human-robot collaboration.

cwa17835_2022.pdf

LIAISON: Liaising robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity in robot legal compliance


Drukarch, H., Calleja, C., and Fosch-Villaronga, E. (2022). LIAISON: Liaising robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity in robot legal compliance. In: Pons, J. L. (2022) Interactive Robotics: Legal, Ethical, Social and Economic Aspects. Biosystems & Biorobotics, vol. 30, Springer., 212-219, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04305-5_37
The relationship between robots and policy development is complex. Technology and regulation evolve, but not always simultaneously or in the same direction. At the same time, robot developers struggle to find suitable safeguards in existing norms applicable to them. This often results in disconnections between both worlds. New robots and applications may not fit into existing (robot) categories (a robotic garbage collector or a robotic wheelchair with a robotic arm with a feeding function). Also, regulations may be hard to follow for developers who are concerned about their particular case because legislation (private and public policy making) may be outdated and with confusing types (such as ‘personal care robots’ not for medical purposes from ISO 13482:2014), and technology-neutral. Since legal responsiveness does not always follow as a consequent step in response to technology’s dramatic pace, we initiated the LIAISON Research Project. LIAISON follows the ideal that lawmaking ‘needs to become more proactive, dynamic, and responsive’ to achieve its desired policy goals and explores to what extent compliance tools could be used as data generators for robot policy purposes to reduce the complexity in emerging robot governance, and unravel an optimal regulatory framing for existing and emerging robot technologies.