Clear distinctions for a changing field.

Robot labor is a research frame for the participation of robotic systems in organized work and for the labor-system changes that participation produces. Digital or AI agents are included only when they carry a recurring, identifiable operational role within a workflow. The term does not treat machines as human workers or apply to AI use in general.

No. Robot Labor is a research project of the Human-Robot Relations Institute (HRRI) and a public reference resource. It studies the language, structures, and responsibilities surrounding machine participation in work.

No. Describing machine work does not erase the distinction between people and technical systems. The research examines how machines participate in labor systems while keeping human status, judgment, rights, and responsibility distinct.

Automation is useful but often too broad to describe how a machine system becomes part of organized work. Robot labor is the narrower frame used here when a robotic system—or a digital or AI agent with an identifiable operational role—changes tasks, coordination, supervision, responsibility, or value.

Where machine work materially shapes a service or workplace, institutions should be able to explain what kind of system is used, what it does, how it is supervised, and where human and organizational responsibility remains.

No. They are voluntary public research references. They do not create legal duties, certification status, compliance findings, or technical safety approval.

Principles sets the public orientation. Responsibility & Operations connects accountability with deployment, supervision, documentation, review, and limits. Documentation & Classification uses the shared Core Record and a multidimensional taxonomy to describe, compare, and explain cases consistently.

It is intended for researchers, institutions, analysts, workers, documentation specialists, designers, and others who need clearer ways to discuss machine work and labor restructuring.

No. The site provides research and public reference material. Real-world decisions still require the facts, rules, procedures, and relevant professional judgment of the specific setting.

Robot Labor focuses on work, coordination, value, disclosure, and responsibility. Robot rights is a connected but distinct research area; the labor analysis here does not depend on treating robots as human workers or political subjects.