For a work straddling the boundary between advanced science/engineering and Lovecraftian horror and for coining the world "Necrobotics". Also, they should get an Ig Nobel as a warning to discourage other scientists from venturing too far in that direction...
More likely if such a technology were ever applied to humans, it would be to allow paralyzed people and others with irreparable nerve damage to use their bodies.
In a punitive justice system that would probably be considered a feature. There's already labour which is largely pointless, better done by machines, and harsh on the human body, but still used in prisons. E.g. I believe the nearest prison to me does light metalworking, concrete work (making paving tiles, flower pots, etc.) and other simple things that would probably be a lot more cost-effective to automate if the workers were being paid more than a few dollars per day.
If you can get the same work done with near-mechanical consistency, and also compel prisoners who would otherwise refuse to work and not have to worry about them taking unauthorised breaks / stealing tools or materials for improvised weapons / attempting to escape, why wouldn't you use it?
There's also plenty of other nightmare scenarios such as puppeting people for sex work, suicide bombings, etc... I'm sure there would be plenty of medical / assistive tech use cases for such a technology but the potential for abuse is huge, and that's where the horror comes from.
