• Question: Do you want to ever create a robot?

    Asked by daniel1289 to James, Marcus, Martin, Rob, Suzanne on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: James Boone

      James Boone answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I would love to create a robot. My field of work doesn’t deal with robotics or artificial intelligence but I do love playing around with computers. When I was younger I used to enjoy watching a programme called “Robot Wars” on TV and wished that I could make a fighting robot to take part.
      It would be really fun to be able to make a robot do something useful. In fact, just today there is news of NASA and GM collaborating to create a robotic hand to help astronauts do physical work whilst wearing a bulky space suit. Have a look at this link: http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/03/a-good-glove-for-auto-workers-might-be-great-for-astronauts.ars

    • Photo: Suzanne McEndoo

      Suzanne McEndoo answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I think that would be a lot of fun. I’m not sure any of the skills I use for my research would be any use for building a robot, but it would be cool to learn.

      Have you ever read any of Isaac Asimov’s robot books? He did a lot of short stories about how we might make robots and how they would interact with human society.

    • Photo: Marcus Gallagher-Jones

      Marcus Gallagher-Jones answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Yes. In fact living in Japan there are a lot of facilities dedicate to robotics. I’d really like to visit some if I get the chance. I do a fair bit of actual building and working with various motor stages so I guess I’m learning some of the skills necessary for building a robot. Maybe one day. The company I work for has built a robot to help out nurses in old folks homes by carrying the patients.

      Robotics and autonomous machines actually have a history going right back to the ancient egyptians who are recorded as manufacturing mechanical dolls. In Japan the earliest recorded illustrations are of Karikuri (a kind of mechanical doll) in the 18th century.

      http://karakuriya.com/english/doll/karakurizui.htm

    • Photo: Martin Zaltz Austwick

      Martin Zaltz Austwick answered on 23 Mar 2012:

      If I could think of something useful to do with it! Maybe making tea, although that’s a bit obvious. Certainly keeping my flat tidy!

Comments