Robots and AI are two different concepts. Robots are just machines like a car, like a microwave. They don't have rights and there are no ethics involved with how we treat them no matter how "human" they look, it's just aesthetics.

Even when we develop fully conscious AI, I don't really think we will limit it to a single robot with a tiny battery and computer on board. They will probably be based in big facilities and control multiple vessels (including robots and other machines).

And for that AI, a single robot will mean nothing, it's just instructing it on how to provide the necessary services, not too different from a human with a controller.