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Aim Despite delays, automation is expected across all fields, with notable interest in surgical robotics. With this comes many of the ethical and moral dilemmas the industry is expected to face in bringing autonomation, to surgical robots, into clinical practice. Method A review of the available literature published on automation, machine ethics and surgical robotics. Results One of the key issues at the heart of autonomous surgical robotics lies the responsibility in the event of complications. Does it lie at the hand of the robotics manufacturer, the clinician or clinical organisation or possibly the patient? A question that remains unanswered despite the relative expectation of autonomous robotics into clinical practice in the coming years. Furthermore, how should a robot proceed in an emergency? An automated surgical robot, which lacks a moral framework, may be unable to deal with emergencies especially within the context of fluctuating local environment where the needs of patients are distinct and everchanging. In addition to this, a political and ethical concern is the expected number of job losses of highly skilled professionals and the training need to adapt to changing work. Can these professionals be employed in a different capacity? Moreover, data concerns have been highlighted, how best to use patient data to improve the technologies whilst preventing misuse of sensitive information. Conclusions Based on current literature, greater work is needed to be done to address the ethical issues before implementation of autonomous surgical robotics.