Applying Kant's demand today to robots guided by artificial intelligence, which are on the threshold of autonomy, seems obvious, but is not very helpful. Even the most insightful AI models admit that they cannot grasp the meaning of the categorical imperative. In order to provide legal and ethical guidance for robotics nonetheless, the BRIDGE project was launched in November 2025.

“AI can operationalize the categorical imperative, but it cannot understand or follow it in the Kantian sense. It can mimic moral behavior, but it cannot act morally,” ChatGPT stated with unusual modesty on December 30, 2025. With this almost Socratic “I only know that I know nothing” admission, AI shows how close it has come to the human mind – after all, even natural intelligences obviously do not always succeed in internalizing the categorical imperative.

Germany builds a bridge to Asimov

In order to give robotics an ethical orientation, Isaac Asimov was the first to formulate an explicit set of three laws of robot ethics in his short story Runaround, published in 1942. First: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second: A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And third: A robot must protect its own existence as long as this protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. These laws, which originate in literature, are still considered the historical starting point for systematic ethical considerations regarding the behavior of robots and autonomous systems, the most recent interpretation of which is provided by the BRIDGE project. Launched in November 2025, this new, nationwide scientific accompanying project aims to close a gap that many robotics programs around the world are familiar with: between strong laboratory results and scalable practice, there are often legal uncertainties, ethical questions, a lack of standards, and unanswered questions in the areas of safety/security and human-machine interaction. BRIDGE positions itself precisely at this interface – and thus sets a new accent in a context that has been gaining in importance internationally for several years under keywords such as Responsible Robotics, Societal Readiness, or ELSA-by-design (Ethical, Legal, and Social Aspects).

Where is BRIDGE headed?

BRIDGE stands for “Accompanying Project for Robotics, Information Law, Dissemination, Green Tech, and Ethics” and supports the 16 funded robotics projects nationwide as part of the “Digital GreenTech – Environmental Technology Meets Robotics” initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which aims to make Germany the leading market for intelligent and safe robotics in the environmental sector. The project, coordinated by the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, is scheduled to run for 36 months from November 1, 2025, to October 31, 2028, and is to be financed with around 750,000 euros. According to the project managers, the focus is not on developing a single robot, but on accelerating and securing its transfer to environmental applications. Examples include the circular economy, monitoring, maintenance/servicing, and agriculture/forestry through legal and ethical guidance and transfer into standardization and practice.

BRIDGE relies on consortium

In terms of organization, BRIDGE relies on a consortium specializing in specific areas: The FZI Research Center for Information Technology takes the lead with a focus on AI/robotics, information law, and coordination, while the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) at the University of Tübingen addresses ethical dimensions and the DIZ | Digital Innovation Center is responsible for networking, science communication, and knowledge transfer. In terms of content, BRIDGE structures its services into three strands: Enable & Support (workshops, status seminars, “Points-to-Consider” checklists), Analysis & Orientation (including product safety, liability, data protection, IT security, autonomy/governance), and Transfer & Standards (guidelines, dialogue formats, links to standardization bodies).

New Humation competence network brings people and machines together

The direction in which BRIDGE is heading is a clear trend that can be seen all over the world: robotics programs are increasingly being flanked by cross-cutting governance and acceptance components. How humans and machines can be brought together in such a way that both benefit from each other is, for example, the central question addressed by the new Humation competence network – human-centered automation, which was recently founded jointly by Bielefeld University and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA in Lemgo. The aim is to design the interaction between humans, AI, and automation in such a way that work processes become safer, more flexible, and more efficient, while at the same time keeping humans at the center. “We want to develop technologies that expand human capabilities, not replace them,” says Dr. Marc Hesse, team leader of Cognitronics at Bielefeld University and member of the scientific advisory board of the Center for Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC). “When humans and machines work together as partners, the result is a hybrid team that works more creatively, adaptively, and sustainably.”

Nationally and internationally compatible approach

Another prominent example of current developments in robot ethics is the EU coordination and support action Robotics4EU, which aims to anchor “responsible robotics” in the community and, among other things, provides a Societal Readiness Plan and assessment models for this purpose. The focus is on integrating acceptance, risk, and value issues early on in product development and introduction—in other words, doing exactly the kind of “translation work” that BRIDGE organizes nationally for the GreenTech context. In addition, other projects such as SIENNA show how much the debate has become professionalized: There, ethical, legal, and human rights requirements for AI and robotics were systematically analyzed and translated into frameworks and recommendations. In contrast, BRIDGE is expected to focus more on the operational support of specific, funded GreenTech robotics projects – but should be able to benefit methodologically from such international ELSA projects, for example in the structuring of guidelines and stakeholder communication.

International policy and standardization initiatives

A third frame of reference is provided by international policy and standardization initiatives which, like BRIDGE, emphasize the transfer to concrete implementation mechanisms. These include, for example, the IEEE's activities on ethics and governance of autonomous, intelligent systems, which explicitly aim to translate ethical principles into standards and development practices. BRIDGE addresses this lever through targeted links to standardization and standardization instruments such as DIN SPEC/VDE formats, which are explicitly mentioned in the project design.

“GreenTech Robotics” as a test field for responsible robotics

The strategic core of BRIDGE thus lies less in another robotics demonstration and more in the establishment of a reusable process model: How can robotic systems for environmental applications be made legally compliant, ethically sound, IT-secure, and standardizable – and how can this knowledge be disseminated so that subsequent projects can scale more quickly? This pattern can be observed worldwide: Robotics is increasingly understood not only as an engineering discipline, but as a socio-technical system that must take acceptance, regulation, and standards into account from the outset.

Industrial policy relevance

For Germany, the “starting signal” for BRIDGE is therefore also relevant in terms of industrial policy: If the project supports the 16 GreenTech projects with practical “points to consider,” reliable analyses, and standardization paths in such a way that market entry risks are reduced and the time to impact is shortened, a blueprint effect will be created – nationally for environmental technology robotics and internationally as a connectable example of responsible robotics accompanying research.