What is a robot? Comparative legal analysis of the Japanese and European proposals

Abstract

This paper intends to carry out a comparative study of what is understood by “robot” from the legal point of view in Europe and in Japan. This should be the point of departure of any research work on the legal proposals that must be submitted to the appearance of robots in the world of work, economic, industrial, health, cultural, etc. and the challenges that such an appearance entail. Europe and Japan, are the two areas considered because they are the most robotic areas in the world, along with China and the United States.

Any possible legal response to the challenge of the entry of robots into today's society necessarily implies an agreement on what should be understood as a robot, as we can clearly identify in which situations or to which objects/subjects we can apply these new legal rules. It is necessary to consider that what is understood by robot is different depending on the discipline from which we want to approach, so the legal approach will logically have conditions to consider that are different from other disciplines. Accompanying the definition of robot, we will also propose various classifications that have already emerged and we will verify its validity at the legal level. From the comparison of the advances that have been produced in Europe and Japan we can draw useful conclusions to analyze the impact of robots and their consideration in the different branches of law.