Technocrats from many developed countries, especially Japan and South Korea, are preparing for the
human–robot co-existence society that they believe will emerge by 2030. Regulators are assuming that within the next two decades, robots will be capable of
adapting to complex, unstructured environments and interacting with humans to assist with the performance of daily life tasks.
Unlike heavily regulated industrial robots that toil in isolated settings,
Next Generation Robots will have relative autonomy, which raises a number of safety issues that are the focus of this article. Our purpose is to
describe a framework for a legal system focused on Next Generation Robots safety issues, including a
Safety Intelligence concept that addresses robot
Open-Texture Risk. We express doubt that a model based on Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics can ever be a suitable foundation for creating
an artificial moral agency ensuring robot safety. Finally, we make predictions about the most significant Next Generation
Robots safety issues that will arise as the human–robot co-existence society emerges.
Keywords Safety intelligence - Robot legal studies - Roboethics - Robot policy - The three laws of robotics - Robot law - Social robotics