Cryptobotics: Why Robots Need Cyber Safety

With the expected introduction of robots into our daily lives, providing mechanisms to avoid undesired attacks and exploits in robot communication software is becoming increasingly required. Just as during the beginnings of the computer age (Pfleeger and Pfleeger, 2002), robotics is established in a “happy naivety,” where security rules against external attacks are not adopted, assuming that robotics knowledgeable people are well intended. While this may have been true in the past, the mass adoption of robots will increase the possibilities of attacks. This fact is especially relevant in defense, medical and other critical fields involving humans, where tampering can result in serious bodily harm and/or privacy invasions. For these reasons, we consider that researchers and industry should deploy efforts in cyber safety and acquire good practices when developing and distributing robot software. We propose the term Cryptobotics as a unifying term for research and applications of computer and microcontrollers’ security measures in robotics.