Gentle Machines, Tough Questions: Ethics in Soft Robotics

Silvia Terrile; Loong Yi Lee; Jonathan C S Ives; Jonathan M Rossiter

doi:10.1109/MRA.2025.3618084

Gentle Machines, Tough Questions: Ethics in Soft Robotics

Silvia Terrile^*
, Loong Yi Lee
, Jonathan C S Ives
, Jonathan M Rossiter

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

25 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Ethics in robotics is an increasingly topical issue due to the significant recent advances, especially in artificial intelligence. Soft robots represent a subgroup of robots that must be analyzed separately since they present a series of unique characteristics defined by their soft and compliant nature. In this paper, we consider the ethical issues related to soft robotics and how the scientific community is trying to address them. Two areas have been identified which present significant and pressing ethical challenges: human–robot interaction and environment-robot interaction. For each of these groups, the different applications and the consequent ethical issues are explored, and possible future scenarios for soft robotics and their ethical components are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	68-76
Number of pages	9
Journal	IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine
Volume	32
Issue number	4
Early online date	27 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2025.3618084
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 27 Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 IEEE.

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10.1109/MRA.2025.3618084

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This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM) of the article which has been made Open Access under the University of Bristol's Scholarly Works Policy. The final published version (Version of Record) can be found on the publisher's website. The copyright of any third-party content, such as images, remains with the copyright holder.
Accepted author manuscript, 3.73 MBLicence: CC BY

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UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node In Functionality
Windsor, S. P. (Principal Investigator), Ives, J. C. S. (Co-Investigator), Downer, J. R. (Co-Investigator), Rossiter, J. M. (Co-Investigator), Eder, K. I. (Co-Investigator) & Hauert, S. (Co-Investigator)
1/11/20 → 30/04/24
Project: Research, Parent

Cite this

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title = "Gentle Machines, Tough Questions: Ethics in Soft Robotics",

abstract = "Ethics in robotics is an increasingly topical issue due to the significant recent advances, especially in artificial intelligence. Soft robots represent a subgroup of robots that must be analyzed separately since they present a series of unique characteristics defined by their soft and compliant nature. In this paper, we consider the ethical issues related to soft robotics and how the scientific community is trying to address them. Two areas have been identified which present significant and pressing ethical challenges: human–robot interaction and environment-robot interaction. For each of these groups, the different applications and the consequent ethical issues are explored, and possible future scenarios for soft robotics and their ethical components are discussed.",

author = "Silvia Terrile and Lee, \{Loong Yi\} and Ives, \{Jonathan C S\} and Rossiter, \{Jonathan M\}",

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AU - Rossiter, Jonathan M

PY - 2025/10/27

Y1 - 2025/10/27

N2 - Ethics in robotics is an increasingly topical issue due to the significant recent advances, especially in artificial intelligence. Soft robots represent a subgroup of robots that must be analyzed separately since they present a series of unique characteristics defined by their soft and compliant nature. In this paper, we consider the ethical issues related to soft robotics and how the scientific community is trying to address them. Two areas have been identified which present significant and pressing ethical challenges: human–robot interaction and environment-robot interaction. For each of these groups, the different applications and the consequent ethical issues are explored, and possible future scenarios for soft robotics and their ethical components are discussed.

AB - Ethics in robotics is an increasingly topical issue due to the significant recent advances, especially in artificial intelligence. Soft robots represent a subgroup of robots that must be analyzed separately since they present a series of unique characteristics defined by their soft and compliant nature. In this paper, we consider the ethical issues related to soft robotics and how the scientific community is trying to address them. Two areas have been identified which present significant and pressing ethical challenges: human–robot interaction and environment-robot interaction. For each of these groups, the different applications and the consequent ethical issues are explored, and possible future scenarios for soft robotics and their ethical components are discussed.

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DO - 10.1109/MRA.2025.3618084

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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EP - 76

JO - IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine

JF - IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine

IS - 4

ER -

Gentle Machines, Tough Questions: Ethics in Soft Robotics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node In Functionality

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