Great news!  Today, Clearpath Robotics, a robotics firm based in Kitchener, Ontario, announced a world leading policy to “not manufacture weaponized robots that remove humans from the loop” and pledged their support for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. In an open letter, Ryan Gariepy, Co-Founder and CTO, writes that “[d]espite our continued involvement with Canadian and international military research and development, Clearpath Robotics believes that the development of killer robots is unwise, unethical, and should be banned on an international scale.”

As a co-founder and the Canadian representatives of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Mines Action Canada welcomes Clearpath Robotics’ decision and applauds their staff for their thoughtful and courageous stance on this issue.  “Clearpath Robotics has set the ethical standard for robotics companies around the world.  Their pledge to not manufacture autonomous weapons systems demonstrates clearly that research and development into autonomous robots and military robots does not require the creation of ‘killer robots’ and that there are many applications of autonomous robotics that can benefit humanity,” said Paul Hannon, Executive Director, Mines Action Canada. “As Canadian, I am proud that a Canadian company was the first in the world to pledge to not manufacture killer robots.”

As the international community is scheduled to discuss autonomous weapons systems at the United Nations again this fall, Mines Action Canada strongly supports Clearpath Robotics’ pledge and we join them in encouraging “those who might see business opportunities in this technology to seek other ways to apply their skills and resources for the betterment of humankind.” We look forward to similar statements from other robotics companies in Canada and around the world.  Members of the public who share Clearpath Robotics’ views can sign the Keep Killer Robots Fiction petition at /KRpetition while individual roboticists and scientists can join the International Committee for Robot Arms Control’s Scientists’ Call online at: http://icrac.net/call/.

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