Boston Dynamics Ethical Principles

Our mission is to imagine and create exceptional robots that enrich people’s lives. By building robots that have the mobility, dexterity and perception required to contribute to our modern society, we strive to create a future in which humans and machines work together to improve everyone's safety, productivity and quality of life.

We are motivated by curiosity and respect for humans and animals

Curiosity and respect for the natural world are at the heart of our work on robots. Building a legged machine that can approximate the mobility of people and animals is a grand challenge. After decades of work, we have just begun to scratch the surface of the potential capabilities of robots. Nevertheless, the general mobility of our robots allows us to turn our focus to how this new type of automation can be used to improve our lives. We see this as the next step in the human history of building machines to reduce the danger, repetition and physically difficult aspects of work.

We prioritize the human element in human-robot partnerships

The next generation of robots will work amongst us and so the working partnership becomes important. We believe that robots will play a complementary role to human ingenuity and creativity in making work safer and more enjoyable. While artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing, we believe that only people have the intelligence to manage the full complexity and richness of real-world conditions in our diverse places of work. We build robots designed from the ground up to leverage human intelligence, keep people safe and relieve the most burdensome work.

We build trustworthy robots

It is imperative that robots be trustworthy if people are to work productively with them. Therefore, we will build robots whose missions and capabilities are predictable, understandable, transparent and in service of human needs. We are committed to being transparent with the public and our customers regarding the state of our technology.

We will not weaponize our robots

We will not authorize nor partner with those who wish to use our robots as weapons or autonomous targeting systems. If our products are being used for harm, we will take appropriate measures to mitigate that misuse.

We believe robotic use must comply with privacy and civil rights laws

We will not authorize nor partner with those who wish to use our robots in a way that violates privacy and civil rights laws. We understand that emerging artificial intelligence technologies including computer vision and personal identification algorithms raise questions about the ethics, legality, and potential for bias around their use in the public sphere.

We work thoughtfully with U.S. federal, state and local governments, and their allies

We believe serving government customers tasked with preserving safety and security is in alignment with our mission as long as that work remains consistent with our terms of use, which prohibit weaponization, targeting and violation of privacy and civil rights laws.

We support the establishment of laws and regulations that promote the safe and responsible use of robots

We will use our leadership position in robotics to help the public, lawmakers, government and commercial customers clearly understand the capabilities and limitations of current robotic technology. We will support and encourage a mix of stakeholders including academia, industry associations, NGOs, and policymakers to debate and align on the benefits and risks of this nascent technology. We will engage with lawmakers to promote legislation around the safe use and deployment of robots.