Pepper the robot bows after it preached to visitors during a demonstration of funeral ceremony with a Buddhist priest in Tokyo in 2017.
EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA
Stereotypes can creep in if ‘culturally sensitive’ robots are not designed with great care.
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Australian literature is a rich and largely untapped source of information about how Australians think about AI.
While AI therapists and carers are rapidly gaining ground, it would be mistaken to consider their behaviour as empathetic.
Miriam Doerr Martin Frommherz/Shutterstock
Artificial Intelligence’s capacity to mimic and identify emotions is worlds away from the human one to feel.
NASA
The next generation of spacesuit needs to do more than simply protect an astronaut from the vacuum of space.
This robot mimics simple life forms.
Trevor Smith
‘Loopy’ is a multicellular robot inspired by biology and designed to react to its environment without instructions on how to do so.
Limbless robots may not need lots of complex algorithms when they have mechanical intelligence.
Tianyu Wang
Robots often have a hard time navigating through debris, but robots designed based on worms and snakes could move around obstacles faster, thanks to an idea called mechanical intelligence.
This little guy is very cute − and very white.
Jiuguang Wang/Flickr
Humanoid robots tend to be white or resemble white people. Here’s why this is a problem and what social scientists, designers and engineers can do about it.
Some researchers predict social robots will become common in K-12 classrooms.
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Social robots can be useful tools to help students learn about programming, but here’s why they won’t be replacing classroom teachers anytime soon.
Robot vacuum cleaners are already a feature in some homes.
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Robotics and AI look set to transform how we carry out domestic work, including caring for other people.
Rather than using AI to replace workers, companies can build teams that ethically integrate the technology.
Yuichiro Chino/Moment via Getty Images
AI poses a variety of ethical conundrums, but the NASA teams working on Mars rovers exemplify an ethic of care and human-robot teamwork that could act as a blueprint for AI’s future.
Getting a leg up from mobile robots comes down to getting a bunch of legs.
Georgia Institute of Technology
A study found that adding legs does more for you than having a good sense of the ground around you − if you’re a mobile robot.
NicoElNino / Shutterstock
New forms of AI are waiting in the wings, but society may decide there are ethical problems using them.
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Robots and AI could transform our lives, so we must decide how we want to use them.
Public-facing automation, like self-service kiosks, reduce the chances we have to interact with other people.
(Shutterstock)
Self-service technologies — like self-checkouts or government service kiosks — are decreasing interactions with other people. This may affect our politics and sense of community.
‘Emotionally intelligent’ robots could improve their interactions with people.
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Robots are already carrying out tasks in clinics, classrooms and warehouses. Designing robots that are more receptive to human needs could help make them more useful in many contexts.
To what extent will our psychological vulnerabilities shape our interactions with emerging technologies?
Andreus/iStock via Getty Images
Our tendency to view machines as people and become attached to them points to real risks of psychological entanglement with AI technology.
A robotic arm (below on right) is used to worship by maneuvering a candle in front of the Hindu god Ganesha.
Monarch Innovation
The use of AI and robotic technology in worship is raising profound questions about its long-term consequences. Will it lead to the betterment of society or replace practitioners?
Demands associated with automation can create more work for humans.
Shutterstock / metamorworks
Automation may not reduce our workloads as much as we’d hoped.
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If we’re going to put an AI brain somewhere, it’s likely going to be a robot. The next step – making that robot immortal.
M3gan, the eponymous doll.
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Far from recoiling in terror, fans have dubbed animatronic murderous doll M3gan a ‘queer icon’ – a horror expert explains why.