{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T04:44:04Z","timestamp":1775796244844,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]],"date-time":"2022-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648771200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]],"date-time":"2022-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648771200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003245","name":"Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["KB-38-001-005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KB-38-001-005"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003245","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007601","name":"Horizon2020","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["825395"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["825395"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007601","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["AI &amp; Soc"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>These last years, the development of AI robots for agriculture, livestock farming and food processing industries is rapidly increasing. These robots are expected to help produce and deliver food more efficiently for a growing human population, but they also raise societal and ethical questions. As the type of questions raised by these AI robots in society have been rarely empirically explored, we engaged in four case studies focussing on four types of AI robots for agri-food \u2018in the making\u2019: manure collectors, weeding robots, harvesting robots and food processing robots which select and package fruits, vegetables and meats. Based on qualitative interviews with 33 experts engaged in the development or implementation of these four types of robots, this article provides a broad and varied exploration of the values that play a role in their evaluation and the ethical questions that they raise. Compared to the recently published literature reviews mapping the ethical questions related to AI robots in agri-food, we conclude that stakeholders in our case studies primarily adopt a relational perspective to the value of AI robots and to finding a solution to the ethical questions. Building on our findings we suggest it is best to seek a distribution of tasks between human beings and robots in agri-food, which helps to realize the most acceptable, good or just collaboration between them in food production or processing that contributes to realizing societal goals and help to respond to the 21 century challenges.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]],"date-time":"2022-04-01T10:57:41Z","timestamp":1648810661000},"page":"541-555","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Ethical aspects of AI robots for agri-food; a relational approach based on four case studies"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4555-8043","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simone","family":"van der Burg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Else","family":"Giesbers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Marc-Jeroen","family":"Bogaardt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Wijbrand","family":"Ouweltjes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Kees","family":"Lokhorst","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"1429_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.1109\/MIS.2006.83","volume":"21","author":"C Allen","year":"2006","unstructured":"Allen C, Wallach W, Smit I (2006) Why machine ethics? IEEE Intell Syst 21(4):12\u201317. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/MIS.2006.83","journal-title":"IEEE Intell Syst"},{"issue":"4","key":"1429_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"324","DOI":"10.1108\/IR-12-2014-0434","volume":"42","author":"M Anderson","year":"2015","unstructured":"Anderson M, Anderson SL (2015) Toward ensuring ethical behavior from autonomous systems: a case-supported principle-based paradigm. Ind Rob 42(4):324\u2013331. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/IR-12-2014-0434","journal-title":"Ind Rob"},{"issue":"3","key":"1429_CR3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"571","DOI":"10.1109\/JPROC.2011.2173265","volume":"100","author":"RC Arkin","year":"2012","unstructured":"Arkin RC, Ulam P, Wagner AR (2012) Moral decision making in autonomous systems: enforcement, moral emotions, dignity, trust, and deception. Proc IEEE 100(3):571\u2013589. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/JPROC.2011.2173265","journal-title":"Proc IEEE"},{"issue":"1","key":"1429_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-013-0526-3","volume":"31","author":"O Bendel","year":"2016","unstructured":"Bendel O (2016) Considerations about the relationship between animal and machine ethics. AI Soc 31(1):103\u2013108. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00146-013-0526-3","journal-title":"AI Soc"},{"key":"1429_CR5","unstructured":"Bos J and Munnichs G (2016) Digitalisering van Dieren. Verkenning Precision Livestock Farming. Den Haag"},{"key":"1429_CR6","unstructured":"Brambell FWR (1965) Report of the technical committee to enquire into the welfare of animals kept under intensive livestock husbandry systems. Farm Anim. Welf. Counc. UK"},{"issue":"1","key":"1429_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"205395171664817","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951716648174","volume":"3","author":"K Bronson","year":"2016","unstructured":"Bronson K, Knezevic I (2016) Big Data in food and agriculture. Big Data Soc 3(1):2053951716648174","journal-title":"Big Data Soc"},{"issue":"4","key":"1429_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2023","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-019-00119-x","volume":"26","author":"J Danaher","year":"2020","unstructured":"Danaher J (2020) Welcoming robots into the moral circle: a defence of ethical behaviourism. Sci Eng Ethics 26(4):2023\u20132049. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11948-019-00119-x","journal-title":"Sci Eng Ethics"},{"key":"1429_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4337\/9781783476732.00017","author":"K Darling","year":"2016","unstructured":"Darling K (2016) Extending legal protection to social robots: the effects of anthropomorphism, empathy, and violent behavior towards robotic objects. Robot Law. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4337\/9781783476732.00017","journal-title":"Robot Law"},{"key":"1429_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Darling K (2012) Extending legal protection to social robots. IEEE Spectrum. 2012. https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/automaton\/robotics\/artificial-intelligence\/extending-legal-protection-to-social-robots.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.2044797"},{"issue":"1","key":"1429_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1007\/s10460-014-9515-5","volume":"32","author":"C Deiessen","year":"2015","unstructured":"Deiessen C, Heutinck LFM (2015) Cows desiring to be milked? Milking robots and the co-evolution of ethics and technology on dutch dairy farms. Agric Human Values 32(1):3\u201320. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10460-014-9515-5","journal-title":"Agric Human Values"},{"key":"1429_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Duckett T, Pearson S, Blackmore S, Grieve B, Chen W-H, Cielniak G, Cleaversmith J, et al. (2018) Agricultural robotics: the future of robotic agriculture. http:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1806.06762","DOI":"10.31256\/WP2018.2"},{"key":"1429_CR14","volume-title":"The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research","author":"B Glaser","year":"1967","unstructured":"Glaser B, Strauss A (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Sociology Press, Mill Valley"},{"key":"1429_CR101","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Jobin A, Ienca M, Vayena E (2019) The global landscape of AI ethics guidelines. Nat Mach Intell 1:389\u2013399. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s42256-019-0088-2","DOI":"10.1038\/s42256-019-0088-2"},{"issue":"July","key":"1429_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecoser.2020.101183","volume":"45","author":"A Lajoie-O\u2019Malley","year":"2020","unstructured":"Lajoie-O\u2019Malley A, Bronson K, van der Burg S, Klerkx L (2020) The future(s) of digital agriculture and sustainable food systems: an analysis of high-level policy documents. Ecosyst Serv 45(July):101183. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ecoser.2020.101183","journal-title":"Ecosyst Serv"},{"key":"1429_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"380","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jrurstud.2021.01.032","volume":"82","author":"K Legun","year":"2021","unstructured":"Legun K, Burch K (2021) Robot-ready: how apple producers are assembling in anticipation of new AI robotics. J Rural Stud 82:380\u2013390. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jrurstud.2021.01.032","journal-title":"J Rural Stud"},{"issue":"7667","key":"1429_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"459","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.39602.690162.47","volume":"337","author":"L Lorelei","year":"2008","unstructured":"Lorelei L, Mathieu A, Wendy L (2008) Qualitative research: grounded theory, mixed methods, and action research. BMJ 337(7667):459\u2013461. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmj.39602.690162.47","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"1429_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"111","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2019.06.013","volume":"184","author":"V Marinoudi","year":"2019","unstructured":"Marinoudi V, S\u00f8rensen CG, Pearson S, Bochtis D (2019) Robotics and labour in agriculture. A context consideration. Biosyst Eng 184:111\u2013121. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2019.06.013","journal-title":"Biosyst Eng"},{"key":"1429_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techfore.2020.119982","author":"S Mauksch","year":"2020","unstructured":"Mauksch S, von der Gracht HA, Gordon TJ (2020) Who is an expert for foresight? A review of identification methods. Technol Forecast Soc Change. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.techfore.2020.119982","journal-title":"Technol Forecast Soc Change"},{"issue":"1","key":"1429_CR20","first-page":"75","volume":"29","author":"A Mavroforou","year":"2010","unstructured":"Mavroforou A, Michalodimitrakis E, Hatzitheofilou C, Giannoukas A (2010) Legal and ethical issues in robotic surgery. Int Angiol 29(1):75\u201379","journal-title":"Int Angiol"},{"key":"1429_CR21","unstructured":"Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2015) Ideas about Naturalness in Public and Political Debates about Science, Technology and Medicine, no. November. https:\/\/www.nuffieldbioethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Naturalness-analysis-paper.pdf"},{"key":"1429_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Pekkeriet E and Splinter G (2020) Arbeid in de Toekomst. Wageningen. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18174\/511027.","DOI":"10.18174\/511027"},{"issue":"5","key":"1429_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"306","DOI":"10.1038\/s43016-021-00287-9","volume":"2","author":"DC Rose","year":"2021","unstructured":"Rose DC, Lyon J, de Boon A, Hanheide M, Pearson S (2021) Responsible development of autonomous robotics in agriculture. Nat Food 2(5):306\u2013309. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s43016-021-00287-9","journal-title":"Nat Food"},{"issue":"2","key":"1429_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.29291\/orbit.v2i2.109","volume":"2","author":"M Ryan","year":"2019","unstructured":"Ryan M (2019) Ethics of using AI and big data in agriculture: the case of a large agriculture multinational. ORBIT J 2(2):1\u201327. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.29291\/orbit.v2i2.109","journal-title":"ORBIT J"},{"key":"1429_CR25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-021-01377-9","author":"M Ryan","year":"2022","unstructured":"Ryan M (2022) The social and ethical impacts of artificial intelligence in agriculture: mapping the agricultural AI literature. AI & SOC. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00146-021-01377-9","journal-title":"AI & SOC"},{"key":"1429_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ryan M, van der Burg S, Marc-Jeroen B (2021) Identifying key ethical debates for autonomous robots in agri-food: a research agenda.\u00a0AI and Ethics, 1\u201315.","DOI":"10.1007\/s43681-021-00104-w"},{"key":"1429_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.4742481","author":"S Sander","year":"2021","unstructured":"Sander S, van Henten E, Lokhorst K, Pekkeriet E, Steckel T (2021) European robotics in agri-food production opportunities and challenges. Zenodo. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5281\/zenodo.4742481"},{"issue":"1","key":"1429_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1007\/s10676-010-9234-6","volume":"14","author":"A Shakery","year":"2012","unstructured":"Shakery A, Sharkey N (2012) Granny and the robots: ethical issues in robot care for the elderly. Ethics Inf Technol 14(1):27\u201340. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10676-010-9234-6","journal-title":"Ethics Inf Technol"},{"issue":"3","key":"1429_CR29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"818","DOI":"10.1007\/s11119-020-09757-9","volume":"22","author":"R Sparrow","year":"2021","unstructured":"Sparrow R, Howard M (2021) Robots in agriculture: prospects, impacts, ethics, and policy. Precision Agric 22(3):818\u2013833","journal-title":"Precision Agric"},{"key":"1429_CR30","volume-title":"Source of the self: the making of the modern identity","author":"C Taylor","year":"1989","unstructured":"Taylor C (1989) Source of the self: the making of the modern identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge"},{"key":"1429_CR31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Thompson PB (2021) The vanishing ethics of husbandary. In: Anim. Our Midst Challenges Co-Existing with Anim. Anthr., edited by Bernice Bovenkerk and Jozef Keulartz, 203\u201322. Springer Nature Switzerland. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-030-63523-7","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-63523-7"},{"issue":"6","key":"1429_CR32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"349","DOI":"10.1093\/intqhc\/mzm042","volume":"19","author":"A Tong","year":"2007","unstructured":"Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J (2007) Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Qual Heal Care 19(6):349\u2013357. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/intqhc\/mzm042","journal-title":"Int J Qual Heal Care"},{"issue":"3","key":"1429_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1007\/s11023-009-9159-1","volume":"19","author":"R Tonkens","year":"2009","unstructured":"Tonkens R (2009) A challenge for machine ethics. Minds Mach 19(3):421\u2013438. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11023-009-9159-1","journal-title":"Minds Mach"},{"issue":"4","key":"1429_CR34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"495","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-007-0091-8","volume":"22","author":"S Torrance","year":"2008","unstructured":"Torrance S (2008) Ethics and consciousness in artificial agents. AI Soc 22(4):495\u2013521. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00146-007-0091-8","journal-title":"AI Soc"},{"key":"1429_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2826\/203114","author":"V van de Els","year":"2020","unstructured":"van de Els V, Kretz D (2020) Advanced technologies for industry\u2014sectoral watch. Technol Trends Agri-Food Indust. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2826\/203114","journal-title":"Technol Trends Agri-Food Indust"},{"key":"1429_CR36","volume":"90","author":"S Van der Burg","year":"2019","unstructured":"Van der Burg S, Bogaardt MJ, Wolfert S (2019) Ethics of smart farming: current questions and directions for responsible innovation towards the future. NJAS-Wageningen J Life Sci 90:100289","journal-title":"NJAS-Wageningen J Life Sci"},{"key":"1429_CR13","unstructured":"van Est QC, Gerritsen J, and Kool L (2017) Human rights in the robot age: challenges arising from the use of robotics, artificial intelligence, and virtual and augmented reality. Den Haag"},{"key":"1429_CR37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315586397","volume-title":"Healthcare robots: ethics, design and implementation","author":"A Van Wynsberghe","year":"2016","unstructured":"Van Wynsberghe A (2016) Healthcare robots: ethics, design and implementation. Routledge"},{"issue":"2","key":"1429_CR38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1007\/s11701-009-0144-8","volume":"3","author":"JA Van Koughnett","year":"2009","unstructured":"Van Koughnett JA, Jayaraman S, Eagleson R, Quan D, van Wynsberghe A, Schlachta CM (2009) Are there advantages to robotic-assisted surgery over laparoscopy from the surgeon\u2019s perspective? J Robot Surg 3(2):79\u201382","journal-title":"J Robot Surg"},{"key":"1429_CR39","volume-title":"What things do","author":"PP Verbeek","year":"2021","unstructured":"Verbeek PP (2021) What things do. Penn State University Press"},{"key":"1429_CR40","volume-title":"Moral understanding: a feminist study in ethics","author":"MU Walker","year":"1999","unstructured":"Walker MU (1999) Moral understanding: a feminist study in ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford"},{"key":"1429_CR41","volume-title":"Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong","author":"W Wallach","year":"2008","unstructured":"Wallach W, Allen C (2008) Moral machines: teaching robots right from wrong. Oxford University Press, Oxford"},{"key":"1429_CR100","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Wirtz J, Paul GP, Werner HK, Thorsten G, Vinh NL, Stefanie P, Antje M (2018) Brave new world: service robots in the frontline. J Serv Manag 29(5): 907\u2013931. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/JOSM-04-2018-0119","DOI":"10.1108\/JOSM-04-2018-0119"},{"key":"1429_CR42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s43681-021-00043-6","author":"AV Wynsberghe","year":"2021","unstructured":"Wynsberghe AV (2021) Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI. AI Ethics. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s43681-021-00043-6","journal-title":"AI Ethics"},{"key":"1429_CR43","first-page":"255","volume-title":"Ethical aspects of human-robot collaboration in industrial work settings. In: The 21st century industrial robot: when tools become collaborators","author":"AV Wynsberghe","year":"2022","unstructured":"Wynsberghe AV, Ley M, Roeser S (2022) Ethical aspects of human-robot collaboration in industrial work settings. In: The 21st century industrial robot: when tools become collaborators. Springer, Cham, pp 255\u2013266"}],"container-title":["AI &amp; SOCIETY"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,10]],"date-time":"2024-04-10T12:03:04Z","timestamp":1712750584000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4]]}},"alternative-id":["1429"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00146-022-01429-8","relation":{"references":[{"id-type":"uri","id":"","asserted-by":"subject"}]},"ISSN":["0951-5666","1435-5655"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0951-5666","type":"print"},{"value":"1435-5655","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,1]]},"assertion":[{"value":"25 August 2021","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"4 March 2022","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"1 April 2022","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no conflicting interests.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Conflict of interest"}}]}}