Makoto Kureha

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About

Makoto Kureha is a leading voice in the emerging field of robot ethics, with a focused research program examining the moral and social dimensions of human-robot interaction. Their most-cited work, "On the moral permissibility of robot apologies" (2023, 5 citations), tackles a pressing question as socially interactive robots become more common: Can it ever be morally right to program a machine to apologize? Kureha’s contribution lies in rigorously analyzing the nature of apology across philosophy, psychology, and law, then applying these insights to robotic systems. They argue that while robot apologies may lack the sincerity of human ones, they can still serve valuable social functions—such as repairing trust or smoothing interaction—making them permissible under certain conditions. This work has sparked important debate in both ethics and robotics design. Kureha’s scholarship is notable for bridging abstract moral theory with concrete technological practice, offering a framework that engineers and policymakers can use. As one of the few researchers systematically addressing the ethics of robotic social behavior, Kureha is helping to shape how we think about machines that must navigate human norms.