Scientists say biohybrid robotics need regulation and public debate

Scientists are calling for regulations to guide the responsible and ethical development of biohybrid robotics — a pioneering science that combines artificial components with living tissue and cells.

In an article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesIn a paper entitled “Ethics and Responsibility in Biohybrid Robotics Research,” an interdisciplinary team from the University of Southampton and universities in the US and Spain outlined the unique ethical issues raised by this technology 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 at a rapid pace.

Biohybrid robots using living muscles can crawl, swim, grasp, pump, and sense their surroundings. Sensors made from sensory cells or insect antennae have improved chemical sensing. Living neurons have even been used to control mobile robots.

Dr Rafael Mestre, from the University of Southampton, who specialises in emerging technologies and co-authored the paper, said: “The challenges of regulating biohybrid robotics are not dissimilar to those faced by regulators of biomedical devices, stem cells and other disruptive technologies.

“But unlike purely mechanical or digital technologies, biohybrid robots combine biological and synthetic components in an unprecedented way. This creates unique potential benefits, but also potential risks.”

Research publications on biohybrid robotics have been growing steadily over the past decade. However, the authors found that of the more than 1,500 publications on the topic at the time, only five thoroughly considered its ethical implications.

The paper’s authors identified three areas in which biohybrid robotics pose unique ethical issues: interactivity—how biorobots interact with humans and the environment; integrity—how and whether humans could assimilate biorobots (such as biorobot organs or limbs); and moral status.

In a series of thought experiments, they describe how a biorobot cleaning our oceans could disrupt the food chain, how a biohybrid robot arm could deepen inequality, and how increasingly sophisticated biohybrid assistants could challenge consciousness and moral values.

“Biohybrid robots pose unique ethical dilemmas,” says Aníbal M. Astobiza, an ethicist at the University of the Basque Country in Spain and a co-author of the paper. “The living tissue used to produce them, the potential for sentience, their distinct environmental impact, their unusual moral status, and their capacity for biological evolution or adaptation pose unique ethical dilemmas that go beyond those associated with entirely artificial or biological technologies.”

This article is the first 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.

The paper proposes a number of requirements that such a framework must meet, including risk assessment, consideration of social impacts, and increasing public awareness and understanding.

Dr Matt Ryan, a political scientist at the University of Southampton and a co-author of the paper, said: “If debates over embryonic stem cells, human cloning and artificial intelligence have taught us anything, it is that people rarely agree on the right way to resolve the moral dilemmas of emerging technologies.

“Compared to related technologies such as embryonic stem cells or artificial intelligence, bio-hybrid robotics has developed relatively little attention from the media, public and policymakers, but it is no less significant. We want the public to be included in this conversation 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 outline actions the scientific community can take now to guide its research.

“Taking these steps should not be seen as a mandate in any way, but as an opportunity to share responsibility, to take a burden off the shoulders of the researcher,” says Dr Victoria Webster-Wood, a biomechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in the US and co-author of the paper.

“Biohybrid robotics research has evolved in different directions. We need to combine our efforts to fully exploit its potential.”