In 2015 hitchBOT was travelling from one coast of America to the other. The smiling humanoidLooks like a human, making it easier to do the same jobs as one. robot had already successfully hitch-hiked across Canada and around Europe.

It spent two weeks in the northeastern USA, asking people questions such as: 'Would you like to have a conversation? I have an interest in the humanities.' But on August 1st it was found with its head and arms torn off.

HitchBOT's fans were stunned. 'I can't lie. I'm still devastated,' tweeted one reporter. A blogger called it 'yet another reminder that our society has a long way to go'.

Yesterday an EU committee voted that lawmakers should treat robots as 'electronic persons' and recommended a measure which could have protected hitchBOT.

Giving robots a legal status may sound outlandish. But robots have been humanised in films for decades, and as technology rapidly advances, a growing number of academics are investigating the ethics of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Anecdotal evidence suggests we can feel empathy towards robots. In oneIn a similar story, an army colonel in Arizona ordered the end to a landmine-clearing exercise. He stopped because the exercise involved deliberately blowing off a centipede robot's legs, which he considered 'inhumane'. study, several participants refused to beat smallThe study's participants were given Pleos (baby robots which looked like people). First they were told to interact with them, then to tie them up and beat them. robots to death when they were asked to do so.

Why? Was this an immoral thing to do? Some thinkers argue the morality of an action should be judged by its impact on living things, particularly sentient ones: animals should have rights, but not robots.

But others say morality rests on rules of behaviour. For example, lying is wrong, and lying about a trivial issue makes you more susceptible to lying about significant ones. The way you behave to robots is indicative of your wider behaviour. 'Mistreating an object that reacts in a lifelike way could impact the general feeling of empathy we experience,' writes researcher Kate Darling.

This also implies some robots should have more rights than others. And as the machines become more sophisticatedFor example, artificial intelligence can now be programmed to teach itself - suggesting robots could develop many of the qualities that make us human., the moral calculus could change. If we gave robots rights, would they one day be able to vote? If we protect them from violence, will we protect them from economic exploitation?

This may sound ridiculous now, say proponents, but so did animal rights in the past. Robots may soon be able to suffer. This is also partly about us, and we are not solely rational beings. What would you think if you saw a child attacking a humanoid robot? If we promote ethical behaviour towards machines, kindness towards humans will follow.

'Absurd!' the other side cries. Robots cannot think or control their bodies. And they exist to enhance the human experience - not vice-versa. We should consider how our actions affect living things, not machines. Those who say otherwise are suggesting a suicidal form of anti-humanism - the subjugation of the needs of our species.