Environmental Robotics and Society

From August 11 to 14, 2026, the Robophilosophy Conference 2026 will take place at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland, under the theme „Connected Futures – Nature, Robots, and Society“. The conference will bring together researchers from philosophy, robotics, artificial intelligence, ethics, law, and the environmental and social sciences to discuss the evolving relationship between intelligent technologies, the natural world, and society. One of the conference highlights is Session 2, „Environmental Robotics and Society“, scheduled on the first day from 2:10 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. The session will open with Janko Munjić’s presentation, „Posthuman Victims in the Anthropocene: Environmental Social Robots, Layered Harm, and the Edges of Criminal Law“, which examines legal and ethical questions surrounding environmental social robots. Oliver Bendel will then present „Towards a Discipline of Animal-Machine Interaction: Ethical and Design Challenges of Machines in Animal Habitats“, exploring the emerging field of interactions between machines and animals. Catherine F. Botha’s talk, „Ecobots and Ecological Capabilities: Ethical Reflections on Robots as Functional Ecological Agents“, will consider the ethical implications of robots acting as ecological agents. The session will conclude with „Aerial Robotics in Society: Energy, Ethics, and Accountability for Sustainable Monitoring“, presented by Ghulam E. Mustafa Abro and Johanna Seibt, addressing the societal, ethical, and sustainability aspects of aerial robotic systems. For more information about the conference and the full program, please visit www.rp2026.org/.

Fig.: Oliver Bendel with a teddy bear from the HUGGIE Project (Photo: Jork Weismann)