The 5 levels of Sustainable Robotics

If you look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it's clear that robots have a huge role to play in advancing the SDGs. However the field of Sustainable Robotics is more than just the application area. For every application that robotics can improve in sustainability, you have to also address the question – what are the additional costs or benefits all the way along the supply chain. What are the'externalities', or additional costs/benefits, of using robots to solve the problem. Solving our economic and environmental global challenges should not involve adding to the existing problems or creating new ones.