Guglielmo Tamburrini

About

Guglielmo Tamburrini is a prominent philosopher of technology and AI ethicist whose research sits at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and ethical theory. He has made substantial contributions to three major areas: the ethics of autonomous systems in medicine and warfare, the philosophical foundations of human-robot interaction, and the methodological underpinnings of neuro-robotics and biorobotic experimentation. Tamburrini's most influential work examines the critical question of meaningful human control over autonomous systems. His analyses of surgical robots (90 citations) and autonomous weapons systems (89 citations) have shaped both academic debate and international diplomatic discussions about where and how human oversight must be preserved as machines assume greater decision-making power. His early and prescient work on brain-computer interfaces (70 citations) and ethical monitoring of brain-machine systems helped establish foundational frameworks for a field that has since grown enormously in significance. Equally important is his sustained examination of learning robots and moral responsibility — a thread running from 2006 through 2020 — which interrogates how epistemic uncertainty in machine learning complicates liability and accountability. His biorobotics methodology work further demonstrates his rare ability to bridge empirical science and philosophical rigor, making him an essential voice for researchers navigating the ethical frontiers of intelligent systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Autonomy in surgical robots and its meaningful human control

   90 citations · 2018
2. 2
   Autonomous Weapons Systems and Meaningful Human Control: Ethical and Legal Issues

   89 citations · 2020
3. 3
   Brain to Computer Communication: Ethical Perspectives on Interaction Models

   70 citations · 2009
4. 4
   Biorobotic Experiments for the Discovery of Biological Mechanisms

   43 citations · 2007
5. 5
   Learning robots interacting with humans: from epistemic risk to responsibility

   37 citations · 2007
6. 6
   Expected perception: an anticipation-based perception-action scheme in robots

   37 citations · 2004
7. 7
   Learning robots and human responsibility

   31 citations · 2020
8. 8
   Learning robots and human responsibility

   30 citations · 2006
9. 9
   Ethical monitoring of brain-machine interfaces

   29 citations · 2007
10. 10
    Machine Experiments and Theoretical Modelling: from Cybernetic Methodology to Neuro-Robotics

    26 citations · 2005

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links