What happens when good robots go ‘bad’?

It’s been a long day at the office and all you want to do is grab a cold one and plop down in front of the TV. But just as you’re getting comfy, you notice something odd on the floor in front of you. It’s a message spelled out in your son’s Legos, only he’s not quite old enough to spell. And if he were, he certainly wouldn’t write “DIE!” on the living room floor in colorful plastic bricks.

Who would? According to researchers at the University of Washington, it might just be your household robot — or rather, whoever’s at its controls.

In a study presented at the recent International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, researchers in the computer science and engineering department envisioned a handful of scenarios consumers could potentially encounter with various household robots, including psychological attacks (such as the one above), robot vandalism and robot spying.

“Robots may look like toys or appliances but they’re not,” says Tamara Denning, a doctoral student at the University of Washington and lead author of the study, A Spotlight on Security and Privacy Risks with Future Household Robots: Attacks and Lessons.

“They’re little computers and in some cases, little mobile computers with webcams. They have eyes and ears and hands and some can be controlled remotely. People should be aware that there may be flaws. It’s the same old idea of hackers and vulnerability, just in a new area.” 

A growing industry
Household robots that perform chores, provide entertainment and monitor home security have become increasingly prevalent over the last few years.

The iRobot Corp., which manufactures Roomba (a vacuuming robot), Scooba (a floor washer) and a handful of other household chore robots, has sold more than 4 million home robots worldwide since 2002. According to a recently released earnings report, its international home robot revenue for the third quarter of 2009 increased 55 percent from the third quarter of 2008.

And in a report this week, ABI Research said this year the personal robotics market will reach $1.16 billion globally, and forecasts the market will more than quadruple by 2015, when worldwide shipments will be $5.26 billion.

Vote and discuss

“If you search for robots on Amazon.com, you’ll come up with a whole range of hits,” says Denning of the growing trend in household robotics. “There are robots that do chores, robots that mow your lawn. There are mobile webcam robots and a whole range of toys for children or hobbyists. In five years, we’ll have even more robots at home.”

But as more and more people open their homes to robots, could they also be opening their homes to robot hackers?

According to Denning, the answer could be yes.

“We’re not trying to give people ideas or scare them, but we are trying to raise awareness,” she says. “It’s very similar to computer security, the way that users of desktop computers have to worry about spam and malware (malicious software).

“One possible trajectory is that people will have to think about security with their home robots, as well. We want them to think about it now, though, before more robots come into the home.”

I spy, robot
In the study, Denning and her colleagues looked at three household robots currently on the market — a mobile webcam robot used for home surveillance, a remote-controlled robot equipped with a camera for either kids or adults, and a toy “spy” robot for kids — to determine if they could be misused.

As it turned out, the robots all had the potential to be compromised — sometimes in ways that conjured up old episodes of “The Twilight Zone.”

“The main concern was in terms of threats to the owners’ privacy, such as spying and eavesdropping,” says Denning. “Someone could log into the robot remotely and then they could drive the robot around the home and look and listen. It’s similar to the concern in the past about nanny cams being accessible over the Internet. Potentially, the robots could ‘hear’ conversations and view the residents of the home. They could be used by identity thieves.”

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