Robot Philosophy Survey

What should robots look like? What should they do? How should they exist among us? Share your vision for the future of robotics.

4
Themes
18+
Questions
~5
Minutes
Theme 1 of 4 0% Complete
1

Robot Morphology

What form should robots take? From humanoid bipeds to specialized machines — explore the shapes that define human-robot interaction.

Which robot body form factor do you find most compelling for general-purpose home robots?

🧍
Humanoid
Two arms, two legs, human-like form
🦎
Quadruped
Four legs, stable and agile like animals
⚙️
Wheeled
Stable platform, efficient movement
🔄
Hybrid
Wheels + legs, adaptable mobility
🤖
Arm + Platform
Mobile base with mounted arm(s)
🧩
Modular
Detachable parts for different tasks

What is the most important physical attribute for a home robot?

Hand dexterity
Fine motor skills for manipulating objects
Mobility
Ability to navigate stairs, carpets, narrow spaces
Adjustable height
Can reach high shelves or stoop low
Compact size
Small footprint, unobtrusive presence

Should robots be designed specifically for ONE environment (home, office, factory) or be adaptable across multiple?

1
Specialized
2
3
Neutral
4
5
Adaptable

What height do you think is ideal for a robot that works at human workstations?

80cm (counter) 180cm (human)
130 cm
2

Robot Applications

What work should robots do? From domestic chores to industrial labor — where can robots provide the most value?

Which task category do you think robots should tackle FIRST in homes?

Cleaning & Tidying
Vacuuming, mopping, dishes, organizing
Meal Preparation
Cooking, grocery handling, kitchen cleanup
Elder/Child Care
Monitoring, companionship, basic assistance
Laundry & Ironing
Folding, hanging, ironing clothes
Fetch & Retrieve
Bringing items, putting things away
Home Maintenance
Changing lights, fixing things, gardening

What makes household tasks difficult for robots? (Select the biggest challenges)

Lack of dexterity
Can't handle delicate or complex objects
Environmental variation
Every home is different, layouts change
Context understanding
Knowing where things belong, what to prioritize
Speed vs. Safety
Too slow to be useful, or too fast to be safe

In what setting do you think robots will have the BIGGEST impact first?

Personal Home
Individual household assistance
Warehouse & Logistics
Structured, repetitive, high-volume
Healthcare & Caregiving
Hospitals, elder care, rehabilitation
Agriculture
Farming, harvesting, greenhouse work

What percentage of household chores do you think robots could handle in 20 years?

10% 100%
50%
3

Human-Robot Interaction

How should robots communicate with us? Through voice, gestures, screens, or something entirely new?

What should be the PRIMARY communication method between humans and home robots?

Natural Language Voice
Speak and listen naturally, like talking to a person
Smartphone App
Tap commands, schedules, and status checks
Physical Gestures
Point at objects, show demonstrations
Built-in Screen
Touch interface on the robot itself

How human-like should a robot's personality and responses be?

1
Pure machine
2
Functional
3
Friendly
4
Warm
5
Near-human

Should robots have a physical face/head? Why or why not?

Yes — aids interaction
Easier to know where to look, read expressions
Yes — feels more natural
Less uncanny, more comfortable presence
No — too uncanny valley
Mechanical appearance is clearer, honest
No — unnecessary complexity
Eyes/camera placement is enough

What is your comfort level with voice assistants that have a physical robot body vs. just a smart speaker?

Smart speaker only Physical robot
50%

What would make you TRUST a robot more around your home and family?

4

Robots in Human Spaces

Where should robots be welcomed? How should they be designed to coexist with humans ethically and safely?

In which spaces would you MOST want a robot to operate in your home?

Kitchen

Yes, welcome
Maybe, with limits
No, keep out

Bedroom

Yes, welcome
Maybe, with limits
No, keep out

What is the PRIMARY ethical concern with home robots?

Privacy
Constant camera/sensor monitoring in private spaces
Physical safety
Risk of injury, especially around children/pets
Human dependency
Loss of skills, over-reliance on machines
Autonomous decisions
Who is responsible when the robot acts on its own

How should a robot indicate it is actively sensing/recording its surroundings?

Always visible indicator
A light or badge that's always visible
Motion-activated
Lights up when actively processing data
App notification
Alert sent to owner's phone
No indicator needed
Assume it's always recording

Should robots be designed to be "shut off" easily at any time? How?

On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable are you with a robot operating autonomously in your home when you're not there?

1 - Not at all 10 - Fully comfortable
5/10

What is currently the most critical bottleneck holding back robotic technology development?

Select the one core factor you believe is most limiting progress today.

Hardware
Actuator cost/speed/endurance, sensor reliability, mechanical limitations
Data
Lack of diverse, high-quality real-world robot interaction data
Model Architecture
Fundamental limitations in how we currently model robot reasoning and control
Other
Economic factors, policy, infrastructure, or something else

How do you envision future industry division of labor in robotics? How should different players collaborate?

Share your thoughts on how academia/industry/community/open-source should split work.

As a developer / contributor, which technical area are you most interested in participating in?

Hardware
Mechanical design, actuator integration, robot building
VLA Models
Vision-Language-Action model training and architecture
AI Infrastructure
Training clusters, distributed systems, inference serving
Data Science
Data collection, processing, cleaning, dataset curation
RL Tasks & Environments
Simulation environments, task design, reward engineering
Inference Optimization
Model quantization, on-device deployment, low-latency optimization

Any other thoughts or comments you'd like to share about the future of robotics?

Ready to Submit?

Thank you for sharing your vision. Your responses will help shape the future of human-centered robotics.

Thank You!

Your responses have been submitted. We believe the future of robotics should be shaped by everyone, not just engineers in labs.