Robots are often used as models to study the cognition and behaviour of living organisms. They are deployed to automate measurements, simulate and test cognitive and neural mechanisms, provide reliable and controlled stimuli for behavioural studies, explain individual and social cognition. This experimental use of robots, that dates back to Cybernetics, is widely accepted within the robotics community and related scientific circles. However, in other scientific communities that are more traditional in their experimental strategies, doubts arise as to whether this use of robots is methodologically sound. The five-year RiLS project aims to determine whether robots can constitute valid scientific models for life science research. Can they provide genuine, reliable and epistemically justifiable knowledge about the behavioural and cognitive mechanisms of living systems?

The ‘big questions’ addressed in RiLS fall within four areas of research in the philosophy of science.

RiLS will establish a distinctive ecosystem for philosophical research. Hybrid research groups comprising scientists and philosophers of science will be established. Scientific case studies will be organised and philosophically probed within the project, providing an exceptional perspective on the important philosophical issues in biorobotics.

The RiLS team will comprise six postdoctoral researchers plus PhD students and research collaborators. The RobotiCSS Lab has several facilities for robotics and human-robot interaction research, including three humanoid robots (NAO, Pepper and Unitree G1), a quadrupedal robot (Unitree GO2), numerous non-humanoid robots, a Tobii Pro Glasses eye tracker, a VICON system for behavioural tracking and equipment for robotic design and electronic prototyping.