Robots should be designed so that even vulnerable users know that they are machines. But how do we create something engaging that is so obviously artificial?
The surgeon and the robotic arm will work together on a hip replacement.
Stryker
We need to ban lethal autonomous weapons, or “killer robots”, as we have done with biological weapons, land mines and blinding lasers, and Australia should take a leading role in making that happen.
RCH patient, Miles, working with NAO.
Alvin Aquino/RCH
People and machines need to be able to interact and communicate effectively. Right now we – and they – can’t. But without that, we risk missing the potential benefits of collaboration.
Sometimes the best way to learn is to build a robot.
Chris Stacey
The FIRST robotics competition brings school students together to build a robot to complete a challenge. And it’s an inspiring way to encourage interest in STEM.
Spectators in South Korea look on as AlphaGo takes on Go champion Lee Se-dol.
EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
A machine has bested us at yet another intellectually challenging game. It shows artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly, but it doesn’t mean humans are redundant quite yet.
Even talking to a colleague at an academic conference overseas could have harsh ramifications.
Shutterstock
As machines get ever more complex as we strive to make them complete more complex tasks, it’s time to ask again: will they ever be able to think? But what is thinking anyway?
Disney’s WALL.E needed to see all the rubbish on Earth so it could clean it up.
AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
There are growing concerns about robots, artificial intelligence and automation. Now two new organisations are seeking to produce responsible robots and advance beneficial AI.
It’s okay in science fiction but not in real life: A robot (Robin Williams, left) who dreams of becoming human in the movie Bicentennial Man.
AAP/Touchstone Pictures
Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society & School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University