The author researches the growing problem of criminal use of robots as well as the emerging risks of their autonomous criminal behavior. It is stressed that the topic of criminal behavior and robotics is becoming increasingly more urgent, and that the process of its scientization, i.e. cognition through scientific methods and principles, has started. The solution of the stated problems is also the task for criminal law sciences, such as criminal law, digital criminology, cybervictimology, etc. The article contains a list of key conditions that, according to the author, accelerate the arrival of the time when the criminality of autonomous intellectual machines will be an independent research subject. The author draws attention to the fact that even today it is possible to claim that the conceptualization process in the sphere under analysis is completed, and that the researched topic is obtaining certain theoretical contours. The article presents some doctrinal concepts of the researched problem area, such as «a publicly dangerous action of a robot», «a criminal action of a robot», «robotized criminal action», «robocrime». The author attempts to interpret these relatively new forms of robots’ behavior in view of specific criminological theories.