You're listening to a special archive presentation of TED Talks Daily. This TED Talk features robot ethicist Kate Darling, recorded live at TED Salon, Samsung 2018.

There was a day about 10 years ago when I asked a friend to hold a baby dinosaur robot upside down.

It was this toy called a Plio that I had ordered, and I was really excited about it,

because I've always loved robots. And this one has really cool technical features. It had

motors and touch sensors, and it had an infrared camera.

And one of the things it had was a tilt sensor, so it knew what direction it was facing.

And when you held it upside down, it would start to cry.

And I thought this was super cool, so I was showing it off to my friend.

And I said, ooh, hold it up by the tail, see what it does.

So we're watching the theatrics of this robot struggle and cry out.

And after a few seconds, it starts to bother me a little.

And I said, okay, that's enough now.

Let's put him back down.

And then I pet the robot to make it stop crying.

And that was kind of a weird experience for me.

For one thing, I wasn't the most maternal person at the time,

although since then I've become a mother nine months ago,

and I've learned that babies also squirm when you hold them upside down.

But my response to this robot was also interesting

because I knew exactly how this machine worked,

and yet I still felt compelled to be kind to it.

And that observation sparked a curiosity

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