CSM Director Professor Gruber was recently invited by Dr Zsófia Tóth from the Marketing Division in the University of Nottingham Business School to give a seminar as part of their Research Seminar Series.

The presentation focused on first insights from a research project on service robotics that emerged from a Thought Leadership Conference entitled “Theorizing Beyond The Horizon: Service Research in 2050” hosted by “The University of Queensland Business School” and the “Australian National University and that took place in Brisbane, Australia from November 3-5, 2017. Professor Gruber worked in an international team of researchers together with Professor Jochen Wirtz (National University of Singapore), Professor Paul Patterson (University of New South Wales), Dr Werner Kunz (University of Massachusetts Boston), Professor Dr Stefanie Paluch (RWTH Aachen University), Dr Vinh Lu (Australian National University), and Ms Antje Martins (University of Queensland).

The presentation in Nottingham focused on revealing important implications of service robotics for individuals, organisations and society at large. Asrobotics is likely to touch all strata of society, important ethical and societal implications have to be considered. The purpose of ethics is the improvement of the general wellbeing of all participants in society. It especially focuses on protecting and improving personal integrity and human dignity, makes sure that the rights of the weakest in society are protected and aims at limiting possible inequalities caused by the advancement of robotics. The seminar discussed crucial challenges at the micro, meso and macro level of analysis. Several thought-provoking recommendations for the way forward were provided as well. The presentation was followed by a lively and critical discussion of the issues raised.