Together with Manuel Cebrian and Nick Obradovich, Rahwan spearheaded an effort to establish the field of Machine Behavior.[14] This field is concerned with the scientific study of Artificial Intelligence systems, not as engineering artifacts, but as a class of actors with particular behavioral patterns and ecology. This field overlaps with, but is distinct from, computer science and robotics. It treats machine behaviour empirically, in the same way that ethology and behavioral ecology study animal behavior without a full understanding of the bio-chemical mechanisms.