Sergio Roncato
Papers
2
Total Citations
16
H-Index
2
About
Sergio Roncato is a leading voice in the emerging field of robot ethics and human-robot interaction, with a particular focus on how we assign moral responsibility and punishment to artificial agents. His groundbreaking work directly confronts a pivotal question of our time: do we judge the “crimes” of robots differently than those of humans? In his most-cited study (2021, 13 citations), Roncato experimentally demonstrated that human beings attribute significantly different levels of punishment and moral blame to robots versus humans for identical harmful actions. By comparing participants’ perceptions of harm caused by either a person or a robot to either human or robotic victims, his research reveals deep-seated biases in our moral frameworks. This work is foundational for understanding the psychological and legal challenges posed by the deployment of autonomous systems. Roncato’s findings have critical implications for the design of AI governance, the development of transparent algorithms, and the crafting of future laws surrounding robotic accountability. His research forces us to reconsider what it means to be a moral agent in an increasingly automated world, making him an essential thinker for students of psychology, law, and artificial intelligence.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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