Researchers are calling for regulation to guide the responsible and ethical development of biohybrid robotics — a groundbreaking science that fuses artificial components with living tissues and cells.
In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences A multidisciplinary team from the University of Southampton and universities in the US and Spain determined the unique ethical issues this technology presents and the need for appropriate governance.
Combining living materials and organisms with synthetic robotic components may sound like something out of science fiction, but this emerging field is moving fast. Bio-hybrid robots can crawl, swim, grasp, pump and sense their surroundings using living muscles. Sensors made from sensory cells or insect antennae have improved chemical sensing. Living neurons have also been used to control mobile robots.
Dr Raphael Mestre, from the University of Southampton, who specializes in emerging technologies and co-lead author of the paper, said: “The challenges faced in regulating bio-hybrid robotics are different from the challenges faced in the regulation of biomedical devices, stem cells. And other disruptive technologies, but unlike purely mechanical or digital technologies, biohybrid robots combine biological and synthetic components in unusual ways but also present potential risks.”
Research publications related to biohybrid robotics have increased steadily over the past decade. But the authors found that out of more than 1,500 publications on the topic at the time, only five considered its ethical implications in depth.
The paper's authors identified three areas where biohybrid robotics present unique ethical issues: interactivity — how biorobots interact with humans and the environment; integrability — how and whether humans can integrate biorobots. (such as bio-robotic limbs or organs), and moral status.
In a series of thought experiments, they describe how a bio-robot could disrupt the food chain to clean up our oceans, how a bio-hybrid robotic arm could exacerbate inequality, and how modern The most bio-hybrid assistants can raise questions about emotions and morality. Value.
“Bio-hybrid robots pose unique ethical dilemmas,” says Anbal M. Estebuza, an ethicist at the University of the Basque Country in Spain and co-lead author of the paper. “The living tissue used in their composition, the capacity for emotion, distinct environmental influences, extraordinary moral status, and the potential for biological evolution or adaptation create unique ethical dilemmas that go beyond purely synthetic or biological technologies. “
This is the first paper from the Biohybrid Futures project led by Dr. Rafael Mestre, in collaboration with the Rebooting Democracy Project. Biohybrid Futures aims to develop a framework for responsible research, application and governance of biohybrid robotics.
This paper proposes several requirements for such a framework, including risk assessment, consideration of social implications, and increased public awareness and understanding.
Dr Matt Ryan, a political scientist at the University of Southampton and co-author of the paper, said: “If the debates about embryonic stem cells, human cloning or artificial intelligence have taught us anything, it is that humans are and rarely agree on the right solution to the ethical dilemmas of emerging technologies.
“Compared to related technologies such as embryonic stem cells or artificial intelligence, biohybrid robotics has developed relatively unnoticed by the media, the public and policymakers, but it is no less important. We want the public to understand this. should be included in the discussion to ensure a democratic approach to the development and ethical evaluation of this technology.”
In addition to the need for a governance framework, the authors set out steps the research community can now take to guide its research.
“These steps should in no way be seen as prescriptive, but as an opportunity to share the responsibility, far beyond the shoulders of the researcher,” says Dr. Victoria Websterwood, a biomechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in the US. By removing excess weight”. and co-author on the paper.
“Research in bio-hybrid robotics has evolved in different directions. We need to coordinate our efforts to fully unlock its potential.”