Robots in agriculture: prospects, impacts, ethics, and policy

• Published in: Precision agriculture Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 818 - 833
• Main Authors: Sparrow, Robert, Howard, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Atmospheric Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemistry and Earth Sciences; Computer Science; Cultural factors; Economic impact; Economics; Ethics; issues and policy; Life Sciences; New technology; Physics; politics; precision agriculture; Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry; Robotics; Robots; Soil Science & Conservation; Statistics for Engineering; Ethics; Automation/autonomy; Precision farming; Agricultural robotics; Sustainability
• ISSN: 1385-2256; 1573-1618
• DOI: 10.1007/s11119-020-09757-9

Agriculture is both the site of development of important new technologies and a key area of application of technologies developed elsewhere. It is little wonder, then, that many thinkers believe that progress in the science and engineering of robotics may soon change the face of farming. This paper surveys the prospects for agricultural robotics, discusses its likely impacts, and examines the ethical and policy questions it may raise. Along with the environmental and economic impacts of robots, political, social, cultural, and security implications of the introduction of robots that have received little attention in the larger literature on agricultural robotics are considered. Key policy choices necessary to meet the ethical challenges likely to arise as agricultural robots start to become used more widely, and to maximise the social, environmental, and economic benefits of robotics in agriculture, are highlighted.