Responsible innovation of autonomous robots in agriculture: towards more substantive inclusion and user-centred design

Autonomous robots in the high value crop sector potentially provides a solution to the lack of labour and other issues. Electrification of robots can help with carbon emissions, precision technology can reduce chemical use, and autonomous machines may replace the work normally done by a human and improve food security of these healthy foods. Such technology is approaching high technology readiness levels and is being demonstrated on farms across the world. However, there are a number of social and ethical considerations of autonomous robots - such as impact on farm employment, cybersecurity, data ownership, bad consumer perception, and lack of safety - that may present barriers to adoption.
This PhD will explore how stakeholders can be included in the best way, ensuring that inclusion is substantive instead of tokenistic, and then investigates how user views can be used to optimize the design of autonomous robots. The aim is to help roboticists understand how to incorporate response innovation principles into the design of robots that work for all stakeholders.
Methods may include a structured literature review, surveys, interactive workshops, observation, citizen juries with stakeholders plus a social media analysis of user perceptions of robots, plus interviews and observation of roboticists involved in development.