Robot laws need 'tweaking'

COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene City Council tabled any action on new regulations for robots Tuesday night, so proponents can "tweak them a little bit."

The Post Falls City Council also discussed the notion of passing a robot ordinance, but decided it was premature.

Nick Smoot, who has been working with Coeur d'Alene city staff on a new ordinance, gave a short presentation to the council, explaining why he thinks the ordinance makes sense, but then asked for a couple more weeks make a few changes.

"I am requesting that we go back and do a little tweaking," he said. "At this point this has been in the paper, and I've had calls from Boise, calls from Spokane and calls from Moscow from people who have seen this saying you can't do this and you can't do that."

Smoot said he wants to see if he can strike a little more balance between protecting research and development of robotics and protecting the rights of citizens.

He wants to be able to regulate some of the actions robots are allowed to do on public property without hampering Google Earth's ability to use its car to do things like mapping in Coeur d'Alene.

"We don't want to make things illegal unintentionally," he said, adding he would like some time to develop a more solid ordinance.

In his presentation, Smoot pointed out several examples of robotics currently in use. He said the opening kick at the World Cup Soccer Championship was done by a paraplegic in a mentally-controlled robotic suit.

Industry experts expect robotics to become a $6 trillion industry by 2020, Smoot said. Google alone recently purchased seven robotics companies.

He said Coeur d'Alene has the talent and the infrastructure to create an innovation hub for startup robotics companies. He pointed to a think tank that is being formed, a Think Big robotics festival to be held at North Idaho College on Aug. 15 and how Coeur d'Alene already has a high school robotics team that is ranked 15th in the world.

"It is important to protect the rights of citizens while attracting robotics companies that want to do research and development in a way that we are not overexposed to data collection," Smoot said.

Meanwhile in Post Falls, Mayor Ron Jacobson said the city council had a similar discussion about a robot ordinance.

"There was good discussion and recommendations that we pass an ordinance, issue a proclamation or do nothing at this time," Jacobson said. "The result was that the city of Post Falls will do nothing concerning an ordinance which may add restrictions to attracting the robotic industry."

He said the ordinance was reviewed by city staff and legal counsel, all of whom had some concerns and questions.

"The city of Post Falls wants to be in front of this issue, but we also do not want to pass an ordinance which may impose requirements that are superseded by state or federal law," the mayor said. "We may have to revisit this topic in the future, but we do not want to impose legislation now on issues we are not familiar with. We feel that this is an issue that will begin to sort itself out as technology continues to improve.

"In summary, the city of Post Falls will welcome the robotics industry with open arms and we do not want to pass an ordinance which may hinder this goal," he added.