Kate Darling is a researcher, writer and public speaker who explores how people relate emotionally and socially to robots, especially robots that resemble pets and animals. She is best known for arguing that we should understand robots less as “metal people” and more as a new kind of animal-like partner in work and daily life. # Background Kate Darling has a background in law, economics and technology, with degrees from the University of Basel and a PhD from ETH Zurich in Switzerland in copyright and new technologies :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}. She later moved to the United States to teach a robot ethics course at Harvard Law School with Lawrence Lessig before joining the MIT Media Lab as a research specialist working on the legal and ethical implications of robotics and AI :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}. She has held fellowships at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard and at the Yale Information Society Project, and has received recognition such as the Mark T Banner Award in Intellectual Property :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}. # Work On Social Robots At the MIT Media Lab, Darling investigates social robotics and human robot interaction, running experiments and workshops that explore how people respond to lifelike machines :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}. Her work pays particular attention to how design cues like movement, gaze and expressiveness cause people to treat robots as companions, partners or even as pets, rather than as simple tools. One recurring theme in her projects and talks is that people are surprisingly reluctant to harm cute or responsive robots, even when they know the devices are mechanical. By studying these reactions she aims to inform both robot design and policy debates about how these machines should fit into homes, workplaces and public spaces. # Robots As A “New Breed” Darling’s book The New Breed develops her central analogy between robots and animals. In this work she argues that our long history of using animals as workers, companions and co performers is a better guide to our future with robots than science fiction stories about human like androids :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}. Instead of asking whether robots will replace humans, she suggests thinking about robots as a “new breed” of helper that can team up with people, much as oxen, horses or dogs have done in agriculture, transport, security and emotional support. This framing highlights issues of care, training, dependence and responsibility rather than competition and replacement. # Pets, Attachment And Ethics Darling often uses pets and other animals to explain why people form attachments to robots. She notes that humans anthropomorphise easily, projecting personality and feeling onto anything that moves or responds in social ways. When a robot is designed to behave like a toy, a pet or a teammate, many users start to treat it socially, name it, care for it and feel distress when it is harmed :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}. She is especially interested in the ethical implications of this attachment. Her work raises questions such as - whether cruelty to robots can normalise cruelty toward animals or people. - whether destroying a robot that someone loves is purely property damage or something more like harming a treasured pet. - how law and policy should respond when social robots are used in homes, schools, hospitals or workplaces. By bringing together insights from animal studies, robotics, law and philosophy, Darling argues for design and governance approaches that take human emotion seriously rather than pretending robots are neutral tools. # Public Speaking And Outreach Beyond academic work, Kate Darling is a widely requested keynote speaker and media guest on topics such as robot ethics, AI in society, emotional attachment to machines and the future of work :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}. She appears in interviews, podcasts and public lectures to explain why thinking about robots as animal like partners can lead to more realistic and humane technology policies. Her outreach aims to shift public discussion away from simple fear or hype and toward a more nuanced view of how robots might share our world, shaped by centuries of experience living and working with other species.