Redefining Robotic Autonomy: An Existential-Phenomenological Framework.

Much of robotics still treats autonomy as a tidy, mechanical matter: execute the code, follow the model, repeat what was learned. This paper steps outside that frame. If machines are ever to be genuinely autonomous, they must do more than run algorithms - they must choose, inhabit their environments, and reckon with the passing of time. Drawing on Heidegger’s concept of being-in-the-world, Sartre’s radical freedom, and Merleau-Ponty’s account of embodiment, we suggest a different architecture for autonomy - one grounded in lived engagement rather than computational scripts. We identify what today’s systems miss and translate existential and phenomenological insights into concrete design principles: fostering authenticity, grounding intelligence in the body, and situating action within a continuous temporal arc. Though focused on robotics, the argument reaches into AI, cognitive science, and the philosophy of mind. The message is plain: a richer, more human-aware model of machine autonomy is not only plausible, but necessary.