Agriculture is both the site of development of important new technologies and a key area of application of technologies developed elsewhere. It is little wonder, then, that many thinkers believe that progress in the science and engineering of robotics may soon change the face of farming. This paper surveys the prospects for agricultural robotics, discusses its likely impacts, and examines the ethical and policy questions it may raise. Along with the environmental and economic impacts of robots, political, social, cultural, and security implications of the introduction of robots that have received little attention in the larger literature on agricultural robotics are considered. Key policy choices necessary to meet the ethical challenges likely to arise as agricultural robots start to become used more widely, and to maximise the social, environmental, and economic benefits of robotics in agriculture, are highlighted.

中文翻译：

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农业机器人：前景、影响、伦理和政策

农业既是重要新技术的开发场所，也是其他地方开发的技术应用的关键领域。因此，难怪许多思想家认为机器人科学和工程的进步可能很快会改变农业的面貌。本文调查了农业机器人的前景，讨论了其可能的影响，并研究了它可能引发的伦理和政策问题。除了机器人对环境和经济的影响外，还考虑了引入机器人的政治、社会、文化和安全影响，这些影响在农业机器人的大型文献中很少受到关注。随着农业机器人开始得到更广泛的使用，并最大限度地提高社会、