Probably the reasons are not that deep. In the "western" (USA?) the aspiration for any manufacturer is to secure a defense contract so any "robot" is seen as a

Probably the reasons are not that deep. In the "western" (USA?) the aspiration for any manufacturer is to secure a defense contract so any "robot" is seen as a potential weapon, that is more evident from the cold war onwards. Now we're seeing that it was not far from truth, any new technology is aimed to surveillance and security.