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Automation and robotics

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

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Illustration of a robotic nanodevice navigating in a blood vessel with red and white blood cells.

essayFuture of technology

Techno-pipe dreams

Thirty years ago, nanotech was about to change everything. Let’s not get tricked again by Silicon Valley’s magical thinking

Philip Ball

Person using a vintage Raytheon computer terminal with text on the screen, next to a rotary phone on a desk.

essayHistory of technology

Ingenious librarians

A group of 1970s campus librarians foresaw our world of distributed knowledge and research, and designed search tools for it

Monica Westin

Image of a Roland TR-808 drum machine with various knobs, buttons, and coloured pads, used for creating rhythmic patterns in music production.

essayMusic

Give the drummer some

As AI drum machines embrace humanising imperfections, what does this mean for ‘real’ drummers and the soul of music?

Jack Stilgoe

A black and white photo of a double-decker bus and car at night, with illuminated windows and silhouettes of passengers, near a traffic light.

essayCities

The haunted city

The city, for all its mechanical speed, artificial light and industrialisation, is the most uncanny of human habitats

Azania Imtiaz Khatri-Patel

A woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a white shirt, in front of a plain white background.

videoComputing and artificial intelligence

What’s it like to chat with an AI that mimics you? Uncanny conversations with Replika

13 minutes

Four small green robot units on a white surface with one in mid-air, showcasing their ability to jump or move.

ideaAutomation and robotics

Robogamis are the real heirs of terminators and transformers

Jamie Paik

A digital rendering of a modular space habitat consisting of interconnected domes on a barren surface with a rover nearby.

videoSpace exploration

How 3D-printing robots will get Mars home-ready for our arrival

5 minutes

A toy robot with binocular-like eyes tangled in a white USB cable, set against a blurred brown background.

ideaAutomation and robotics

Sure, it can backflip – but can a robot hold down a desk job?

Amy LaViers

A Japanese man in traditional attire holding a grey robotic arm, seated on a wooden porch, next to glass-paned doors and wooden walls.

essayAutomation and robotics

Robot says: Whatever

What stands in the way of all-powerful AI isn’t a lack of smarts: it’s that computers can’t have needs, cravings or desires

Margaret Boden

Colourful animated figure with raised fists floating in space surrounded by vividly patterned planets against a black, starry background.

videoAutomation and robotics

Human as a process: What awaits us in the coming age of bio-enhancement?

3 minutes

A robot with a human face examining a floating, disembodied face in a futuristic hallway while a person stands in the background.

ideaAutomation and robotics

Robot cognition requires machines that both think and feel

Luiz Pessoa

A small, curved, black object hovering above a light blue surface with its shadow visible underneath.

videoAutomation and robotics

The tiny robot that could wriggle its way across the perilous terrain of the human body

3 minutes

A painting of a man with a black hat, beard and lace collar against a red curtain, looking over his shoulder at the viewer.

ideaAutomation and robotics

Science has outgrown the human mind and its limited capacities

Ahmed Alkhateeb

A man in a white vest holding a small, humanoid robot in blue clothing against a dark background with a yellow light.

essayComputing and artificial intelligence

Raising good robots

We already have a way to teach morals to alien intelligences: it’s called parenting. Can we apply the same methods to robots?

Regina Rini

Painting of a muscular nude man’s bare back, seated with an arm resting on a surface, set against a dark, muted background.

ideaComputing and artificial intelligence

The body is the missing link for truly intelligent machines

Ben Medlock

A close-up view of industrial machinery with various metallic components and a spring being worked on in the centre.

videoAutomation and robotics

Dance dance automation: music from the factory floor

8 minutes

A man in a white shirt operating a vintage linotype machine in a dimly lit industrial setting.

videoHistory of technology

The last day of hot metal press before computers come in at The New York Times

29 minutes

Black and white photo of people working in a large room filled with rows of filing cabinets in an office environment.

essayInformation and communication

In proof we trust

Blockchain technology will revolutionise far more than money: it will change your life. Here’s how it actually works

Dominic Frisby

Abstract illustration featuring a layered pyramid with symbols of humans, animals, DNA, aliens and computers, with colourful beams.

essayPhilosophy of mind

Consciousness creep

Our machines could become self-aware without our knowing it. We need a better way to define and test for consciousness

George Musser

Watercolour-style painting of a young man with glasses and short hair, text “IN SIGHT Tom Chatfield” on the right, grey background.

videoAutomation and robotics

If we are what we do, how can we stay human in an era of automation?

7 minutes

Black and white photo of a retro-style robot made from various metal parts, including flashlights and cans, against a plain background.

ideaEthics

We have greater moral obligations to robots than to humans

Eric Schwitzgebel

An art installation featuring a metal archway labelled “THE WINDING THEATRE,” with signs for a theatre and free gallery.

videoDesign and fashion

Rustic automata – a world built out of spare parts powered by solar energy

9 minutes

A robot in a Yale sweatshirt and cap pointing at the camera with an extended arm, against a white background.

videoCognition and intelligence

How do you get a robot to seem more like a human? You make it a liar robot

4 minutes

Multiple small, round robots with glowing LED lights in various colours on a flat white surface

videoBioethics

The mini robots that may show how to ‘programme’ cells for improved performance

4 minutes