The Pinocchio Puzzle
By Robert T. Pennock
Artificial life researchers explore life as it could be with robots.
This Article From Issue
January-February 2026
Volume 114, Number 1
Page 24
In an airport transit hall recently, I crossed paths with a floor cleaning robot and wasn’t sure which of us would have to stand aside. Did it have sensors that could detect me? How was it programmed? It had a smiling face painted on to look friendly, but I doubted that it could distinguish me from an abandoned roller bag. It paused. It beeped. It resumed its task after I moved out of its way. Was this encounter a preview of the future of life with robots? Humans have long dreamed of a world in which artificial beings walk and work alongside us, and companies are eager to build it. What could life become with robots? What should we aim for, and be wary of, as we engineer such autonomous beings?
QUICK TAKE
- The study of robotics from a philosophical perspective requires that we ask what defines both life and personhood, to make the prescientific idea of anima or vital spirit more precise.
- The field of artificial life research arose in the 1980s to synthesize disparate specialties, including robotics, that explore how life evolved and different ways that life could be.
- Building a world that includes robots must take into consideration their persistent limitations, despite any marketing hype about their abilities, to avoid danger to humans.
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