The physical autonomy of robots is well understood both theoretically and practically. By contrast, there is almost no research exploring their potential economic autonomy. In this paper, we present the first economically autonomous robot -- a robot able to produce marketable goods while having full control over the use of its generated income. Gaka-chu ("painter" in Japanese) is a 6-axis robot arm that creates paintings of Japanese characters from an autoselected keyword. By using a blockchain-based smart contract, Gaka-chu can autonomously list a painting it made for sale in an online auction. In this transaction, the robot interacts with the human bidders as a peer not as a tool. Using the blockchain-based smart contract, Gaka-chu can then use its income from selling paintings to replenish its resources by autonomously ordering materials from an online art shop. We built the Gaka-chu prototype with an Ethereum-based smart contract and ran a 6-month long experiment, during which the robot created and sold four paintings, simultaneously using its income to purchase supplies and repay initial investors. In this work, we present the results of the experiments conducted and discuss the implications of economically autonomous robots.

翻译：摘要：机器人的物理自主性在理论和实践层面均已被充分理解。相比之下，探索其经济自主潜力的研究几乎空白。本文提出了首个具备经济自主能力的机器人——一种能够生产适销商品并完全控制其收入使用权的机器人。Gaka-chu（日语中意为"画家"）是一个六轴机械臂，可根据自动选择的关键词创作日语书法画作。通过基于区块链的智能合约，Gaka-chu可自主将其创作的画作在线上拍卖中挂牌销售。在此交易过程中，机器人以对等者而非工具的身份与人类竞拍者互动。借助区块链智能合约，Gaka-chu还能利用卖画所得通过自主向在线艺术商店订购材料来补充资源。我们基于以太坊智能合约构建了Gaka-chu原型，并进行了长达六个月的实验。在此期间，该机器人创作并售出四幅画作，同时将收入用于购买耗材和偿还初始投资者。本文呈现了实验成果，并探讨了经济自主型机器人的启示意义。