5万篇机器人论文中，仅不到5%明确关注可持续发展。
The Sustainability Gap in Robotics: A Large-Scale Survey of Sustainability Awareness in 50,000 Research Articles
- 分析近5万篇机器人论文，量化可持续性提及频率
- 仅2%论文提及生态或社会影响，0.1%明确引用可持续发展目标
- 呼吁科研界主动提升可持续性意识，推动负责任创新
我们对机器人研究中的可持续性表达与动机进行了大规模调查。分析涵盖arXiv cs.RO类别中2015年至2026年初近5万篇开放获取论文。研究量化了论文提及社会、生态及可持续性影响的频率，并分析其与联合国可持续发展目标（SDGs）的契合度。结果表明，尽管大量机器人研究可映射至与SDG相关的领域，但明确的可持续性动机极为有限：可持续性相关影响提及率通常低于2%，明确引用SDG的比例低于0.1%，可持续性驱动的研究论文占比不足5%。这反映出机器人领域虽快速发展，但可持续性尚未成为研究框架的标配。论文最后提出具体建议，呼吁研究者、会议和机构采取行动，缩小认知与动机差距，推动更具意图性和责任性的技术创新。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
We present a large-scale survey of sustainability communication and motivation in robotics research. Our analysis covers nearly 50,000 open-access papers from arXiv's cs.RO category published between 2015 and early 2026. In this study, we quantify how often papers mention social, ecological, and sustainability impacts, and we analyse their alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results reveal a persistent gap between the field's potential and its stated intent. While a large fraction of robotics papers can be mapped to SDG-relevant domains, explicit sustainability motivation remains remarkably low. Specifically, mentions of sustainability-related impacts are typically below 2%, explicit SDG references stay below 0.1%, and the proportion of sustainability-motivated papers remains below 5%. These trends suggest that while the field of robotics is advancing rapidly, sustainability is not yet a standard part of research framing. We conclude by proposing concrete actions for researchers, conferences, and institutions to close these awareness and motivation gaps, supporting a shift toward more intentional and responsible innovation.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品；中文卡片由大模型生成，请以原文为准。