:00:00. > :00:00.which this week is presented by the robot-obsessed singer Ana Matronic.
:00:00. > :00:00.We hear a lot about how robots might affect the future of our economy,
:00:00. > :00:09.but they are already making a big impact on art and culture.
:00:10. > :00:11.I'm Ana Matronic, lead singer of the Scissors Sisters,
:00:12. > :00:20.In my edition of Artsnight, I want to explore our enduring fascination
:00:21. > :00:23.with robots across pop culture, from music to art, fiction to film.
:00:24. > :00:36.Right now, there's never been a more exciting time for robots.
:00:37. > :00:42.They're becoming skilled at playing complex music
:00:43. > :00:48.and are now adept at drawing, while one artist has even become part
:00:49. > :00:54.With advancing technology, it seems machines are now getting
:00:55. > :00:56.in on the act and pushing the boundaries of creativity.
:00:57. > :01:07.Are we on the verge of an artistic robot takeover?
:01:08. > :01:13.HARRY ROBOT: The future belongs to me!
:01:14. > :01:16.I've been obsessed by robots ever since I first clapped eyes
:01:17. > :01:19.on them in the movie theatre when I was not even three-years-old.
:01:20. > :01:23.I love reading about them, I love thinking about them,
:01:24. > :01:26.I love writing about them and, man, do I want one...
:01:27. > :01:41.The first film I saw that sealed my love for robots was, of
:01:42. > :01:45.Nearly 40 years on, the long awaited seventh episode, The Force Awakens,
:01:46. > :01:50.is about to open in cinemas. It heralds the arrival of a brand new
:01:51. > :02:00.But also the return of, officially, the most beloved
:02:01. > :02:02.robot in movie history, R2-D2.
:02:03. > :02:05.Resembling an industrial vacuum cleaner,
:02:06. > :02:11.R2-D2 is a curiously endearing robot and one half of a comedy double act
:02:12. > :02:22.C-3PO: Where do you think you're going?
:02:23. > :02:28.R2: Bleep.
:02:29. > :02:30.C-3PO: Well, I'm not going that way.
:02:31. > :02:39.R2: Bleep bleep.
:02:40. > :02:41.A plucky determined character, he regularly saves the day, and
:02:42. > :02:45.When you think of famous robots and the best there is,
:02:46. > :03:06.I think he's the first robot with a human element to him,
:03:07. > :03:12.He's a little robot with lots of tricks up his sleeve.
:03:13. > :03:14.He's kind of a cheekie chappie, but also an unsung hero
:03:15. > :03:20.I think he's kind of a little bit angry.
:03:21. > :03:24.He wanted to do what he wanted to do,
:03:25. > :03:27.and if the other one didn't agree, it went off on its own anyway.
:03:28. > :03:30.Today, R2 is an icon the world over, appearing in video games
:03:31. > :03:44.The now familiar shape of R2 was originally conceived by artist
:03:45. > :03:54.Ralph McQaurrie and brought to life in part for the big screen by
:03:55. > :03:57.a 3 foot 8 inch actor called Kenny Baker, operating inside a model.
:03:58. > :04:02.Behind the scenes footage from the first film reveals how
:04:03. > :04:05.the British special effects team built radio controlled versions
:04:06. > :04:13.In the Force Awakens, the challenge of building
:04:14. > :04:18.and maintaining R2 on set fell to two ordinary Star Wars fans.
:04:19. > :04:25.This is the actual R2 from the new movie built by
:04:26. > :04:28.the duo, amidst extreme secrecy for the biggest film release in years.
:04:29. > :04:34.Amazingly, they were recruited from a special Star Wars fan club.
:04:35. > :04:38.So the R2 Builders Club is a worldwide community where people
:04:39. > :04:43.can download plans, buy parts and build an R2.
:04:44. > :04:46.It took me five years in total to build my R2 and I was
:04:47. > :04:50.sort of single at the time, so I didn't have any girlfriends or wives
:04:51. > :04:59.In 2013, there was a Star Wars celebration in Essen, Germany, so in
:05:00. > :05:02.a moment of feeling very brave, I approached Katherine Kennedy, head
:05:03. > :05:06.of Lucasfilm, and made a comment about if they were making any films
:05:07. > :05:10.in the UK, and if they needed any droids, get in touch.
:05:11. > :05:18.And then, from a very cheeky comment, I was called several months
:05:19. > :05:22.later by Lucasfilms asking if I was available to work on the new film.
:05:23. > :05:24.It was incredible, a once in a lifetime opportunity.
:05:25. > :05:30.I really couldn't celebrate that much as I had to keep it so quiet.
:05:31. > :05:33.My wife knew, which was fair enough, but I've got two boys, two teenage
:05:34. > :05:39.sons, but I decided to keep it quiet from them because of school chatter.
:05:40. > :05:51.So I had to lie to them and make up a job I was doing!
:05:52. > :05:55.Then the first photo broke, which JJ tweeted from the workshop.
:05:56. > :05:58.That was the moment I told the children.
:05:59. > :06:00.The first day we got there, I was in absolute awe
:06:01. > :06:04.of all the talent and I felt like a very small fish in a big ocean.
:06:05. > :06:06.During their year working on the film, Oliver
:06:07. > :06:11.and Lee built four types of R2, with different capabilities, and were
:06:12. > :06:14.responsible for remote controlling R2's every move and action on set.
:06:15. > :06:17.This is what we class as the indoor version.
:06:18. > :06:23.It's got a lower profile to make him look a bit like he's floating.
:06:24. > :06:28.So it can spin on the spot, the dome can turn independently and because
:06:29. > :06:31.of the drive structure we can literally put a mark there and he'll
:06:32. > :06:48.One of the biggest concerns is it's going to fail or there's going to be
:06:49. > :06:51.a problem and there's that constant worry that they will call action
:06:52. > :06:54.But, luckily, it never happened, R2 worked flawlessly
:06:55. > :06:58.and it couldn't, he couldn't, have been any better at all.
:06:59. > :07:01.I think he's just timeless really, considering he was invented in '76,
:07:02. > :07:08.And, you look at it now, I think he's stood the test
:07:09. > :07:12.Hopefully, he's got a few more years ahead of him, I think.
:07:13. > :07:22.Not only do we have world famous droid movie stars, robots today
:07:23. > :07:33.We think of the arts - from literature to music or painting
:07:34. > :07:36.- as innately human and what sets us apart from
:07:37. > :07:43.But in the modern age, robots are increasingly flexing
:07:44. > :07:45.their artistic muscles, working together with musicians and
:07:46. > :07:52.artists to create some surprising and mind blowing new works.
:07:53. > :07:54.I've come to the London Fine Art Studios for
:07:55. > :08:07.So you really have to imagine you're in a life drawing class.
:08:08. > :08:10.So you are going to look in front of you.
:08:11. > :08:16.So I think this is my best side. Patrick
:08:17. > :08:19.Tresset is a London-based French artist who's created five artist
:08:20. > :08:26.robots and today I'm to be their muse!
:08:27. > :08:33.It's hard for me not to grin ear to ear
:08:34. > :08:35.because I'm squeeing so hard inside with excitement because I'm being
:08:36. > :08:44.This looks a the me, looks at its paper and looks up. It gives it a
:08:45. > :08:49.sort of life to it. I can never tell whether
:08:50. > :09:07.its going to draw an interesting Sometimes a good surprise and
:09:08. > :09:10.sometimes less good. This looks quite nice. They have the same
:09:11. > :09:14.programme? They're all drawing
:09:15. > :09:28.from different angles and all have got exactly the same software, but
:09:29. > :09:30.I've just changed something in the nervousness of the arm and something
:09:31. > :09:33.just after the camera and that I tried to be a painter
:09:34. > :09:41.for almost 13 years. After 13 years, I kind
:09:42. > :09:43.of lost my passion for painting. Everything that I did didn't
:09:44. > :09:46.look right or didn't feel right. Then I kind of remembered that I
:09:47. > :09:48.loved programming when I was a kid and so I started to
:09:49. > :09:52.use computers to do what I didn't After 40 minutes,
:09:53. > :10:09.the robot artists sign their work This one is childish. He seemed
:10:10. > :10:17.confused. He was looking up-and-down at me a lot. Oh, I almost figured as
:10:18. > :10:24.though it would be almost like a printer. Like an ink jet pringer
:10:25. > :10:30.that would go line byline byline and what I associate with computers. So
:10:31. > :10:34.that is not the case, obviously. Oh, that's one's great though. This one
:10:35. > :10:42.is quite good. That one you can actually tell is me. Definitely.
:10:43. > :10:43.Probably because I'm a narcissist. I like the one that looks the most
:10:44. > :10:46.like me! So, Patrick, do I get to leave
:10:47. > :10:49.with one of these today? I mean,
:10:50. > :10:54.they are part of a bigger artwork so they are all kept, but what I do
:10:55. > :10:58.is that I scan them and send them. It's not just in the world
:10:59. > :11:15.of fine art that robots are flexing their creative muscles,
:11:16. > :11:22.it's happening in music too. One of my favourite artists,
:11:23. > :11:24.Tom Jenkinson - better known as Squarepusher -
:11:25. > :11:27.has been at the cutting edge Recently, he composed an album
:11:28. > :11:33.specially for a robot band, created I've come to meet Tom in his Essex
:11:34. > :11:57.studio to find out more How your interest in this project
:11:58. > :12:02.came about? I was approached by some Japanese robotists and they wanted
:12:03. > :12:06.me to make a piece of music for their robot band to play. I couldn't
:12:07. > :12:10.pass up that opportunity. It's not the sort of thing that happens every
:12:11. > :12:17.day. I just had to see what that would be like. The Z machine
:12:18. > :12:22.machines have a 22 armed drummer, a guitarist with 78 fingers and a
:12:23. > :12:30.keyboardist that plays notes by shooting green lasers from its eyes.
:12:31. > :12:36.Sad robot goes funny was the fist piece you composed for Z Machines.
:12:37. > :12:40.You are composing for a 78-fingered guitarist. What it means is that you
:12:41. > :12:45.could, for example, make chords that have a larger span than a normal
:12:46. > :12:49.human hand could achieve. Also, the speed at which the notes can be
:12:50. > :12:54.played, I mean, you can play over 100 notes a second. That is pretty
:12:55. > :12:59.quick. I'm sure there are guitarists out there who would claim they can
:13:00. > :13:03.do it. It can do it and do it consistently and doesn't get tired
:13:04. > :13:08.it. Keeps going. It generates a particular kind sound that isn't
:13:09. > :13:12.possible with human hands. I would imagine that composing for robots
:13:13. > :13:18.you had a very specific place that you would want to go musically. I
:13:19. > :13:22.wonder whethered we could make robots perform music that would be
:13:23. > :13:28.for a listener emotionally involving.
:13:29. > :13:31.I personally find it at points quite convincing actually.
:13:32. > :13:41.I also encountered a sense of disappointment amongst some
:13:42. > :13:45.people that when you tell them it's a robot playing.
:13:46. > :13:47.It's like, oh wow, I thought it was an incredible
:13:48. > :13:50.guitar player, this unbelievable, this super human technique
:13:51. > :13:58.and then when you tell them it's a robot, then they actually become,
:13:59. > :14:04.I always think that music and performing live is such
:14:05. > :14:11.a human endeavour and so much to me lies in the idea of communication.
:14:12. > :14:15.And it seems to me that even if we bring robots in, we'll still need
:14:16. > :14:20.Yeah, but what's interesting, I think,
:14:21. > :14:22.is that we're already augmenting our human performance with machinery.
:14:23. > :14:25.I mean, if you come to one of my shows, for better or
:14:26. > :14:38.I mean I'm playing a guitar, but it's not a guitar as you know it.
:14:39. > :14:40.It's going through any number of different processes.
:14:41. > :14:43.But there's other elements where there is no touch of human hand
:14:44. > :14:47.And the fascinating thing I think is,
:14:48. > :14:50.that I can be on the stage and yet everything that people are hearing
:14:51. > :14:53.is generating by machines, the performance is done by the machine.
:14:54. > :14:55.I'm just kind of babysitting the machines, and that's
:14:56. > :14:59.And yet we can't let go of the human, because
:15:00. > :15:02.if you took that supervisor away, no matter how superficial their job
:15:03. > :15:06.If you take that away, suddenly it's not music performance anymore.
:15:07. > :15:10.I look forward to hearing more from you and possibly some more
:15:11. > :15:18.I would like some robot back up dancers, that's what I would like.
:15:19. > :15:30.As robots get more sophisticated, one way forward is
:15:31. > :15:36.for us humans to enhance our own abilities through technology.
:15:37. > :15:39.I've been worshipping at the altar of all things bionic,
:15:40. > :15:48.But inking your shoulder with computer circuitry is one thing,
:15:49. > :15:55.actually becoming part machine quite another.
:15:56. > :15:59.That's exactly what British born artist Neil Harbisson has done,
:16:00. > :16:07.Neil Harbisson is officially the world's first cyborg artist
:16:08. > :16:12.having had a technological device surgically implanted into his skull.
:16:13. > :16:16.It's allowing him to create some unusual new art works.
:16:17. > :16:19.I want to ask Neil about his decision to become a cyborg -
:16:20. > :16:23.and it seems only fitting that we'll be using technology to communicate.
:16:24. > :16:31.You are the first cyborg I am ever meeting so I am totally jazzed.
:16:32. > :16:36.So Neil, tell me how this came about?
:16:37. > :16:39.Well, I was born with an unusual visual condition called
:16:40. > :16:42.acromatism, which is total colour blindness, so I see things
:16:43. > :16:47.But I wanted to have a sense of colour.
:16:48. > :16:50.So the only way of creating a new sense
:16:51. > :16:57.So what I have now is this antenna implanted in my skull that allows
:16:58. > :17:02.Exactly how does that work, how does it transmit the sound?
:17:03. > :17:06.So the tip of the antenna has a light detector that detects the
:17:07. > :17:13.And it transmits into a chip inside my skull that vibrates
:17:14. > :17:18.So this vibration in my bone becomes a sound in my inner ear,
:17:19. > :17:41.How has that changed your perception or your life?
:17:42. > :17:43.At the beginning I had strong headaches
:17:44. > :17:46.and I was really exhausted because I could hear colour everywhere.
:17:47. > :17:48.So I was in a music composition constantly
:17:49. > :17:54.But after five months it all became very, very normal.
:17:55. > :17:57.When I actually felt cyborg was when I stopped feeling the difference
:17:58. > :18:01.And this happened when I started to dream in colours.
:18:02. > :18:03.And how has the antenna influenced and shaped your
:18:04. > :18:08.Well, the antenna now allows me to, to express myself
:18:09. > :18:10.from a new sense basically, which is the sonochromatic sense:
:18:11. > :18:14.the sound of colour and the colour of sound.
:18:15. > :18:21.Instead of playing an instrument, I can now play colours.
:18:22. > :18:24.I can give colour concerts where instead of a piano I can just have
:18:25. > :18:27.different coloured objects in front of me and then I amplify
:18:28. > :18:32.And then I can create melodies with different coloured objects.
:18:33. > :18:36.I can also do this with people's faces to create face concerts.
:18:37. > :18:39.I started doing this in 2005 when Prince Charles came to
:18:40. > :18:44.the university and he asked me, what is this?
:18:45. > :18:47.And I explained this is an antenna to hear colours, and then I asked
:18:48. > :18:54.That was the first sound portrait I did.
:18:55. > :18:56.So I guess the next question is, not how do I
:18:57. > :19:04.So your hair sounds F, a very high pitched F, and then
:19:05. > :19:10.your lips sound F too, but it's a different scale of F, it's a low F.
:19:11. > :19:24.If you could get close so I can hear the sound of your eyes.
:19:25. > :19:26.It's a microtone between C and B
:19:27. > :19:29.That's a chord, a unique musical chord.
:19:30. > :19:54.Yes, so hearing colours has the secondary effect that when I
:19:55. > :19:57.hear music or I hear sounds I can also paint this on a canvas.
:19:58. > :20:00.And you have some paintings behind you.
:20:01. > :20:15.Yes, there are several, this is New York New York.
:20:16. > :20:19.From the first note to the last, so "start spreading
:20:20. > :20:25.So it's note by note from the centre to the end.
:20:26. > :20:37.So now I can listen to different artists.
:20:38. > :20:38.For example, Andy Warhol sounds very loud.
:20:39. > :20:43.Whereas Velasquez sounds very disturbing, sounds a bit
:20:44. > :20:50.You should score a horror movie with paintings.
:20:51. > :20:53.I''d be fantastic. And are you a Wi-Fi enabled hotspot?
:20:54. > :21:09.I see it as a communication tool, as a sense.
:21:10. > :21:12.And I think this is the next stage of internet that we
:21:13. > :21:22.I hope you become a cyborg soon as well!
:21:23. > :21:25.Cyborgs have long been represented in science fiction, as has
:21:26. > :21:35.The question is, just how close are we to realising the kind
:21:36. > :21:37.of sophisticated and clever mechanical people we've
:21:38. > :21:44.Scientist and broadcaster Adam Rutherford, who worked
:21:45. > :21:48.as an advisor on this year's AI hit film Ex Machina, is off to sort
:21:49. > :21:59.In 2015, we saw a slew of blockbuster films and TV series
:22:00. > :22:04.These portray lifelike machines with human-level consciousness
:22:05. > :22:12.Now, this set of films are not like science fiction of the past
:22:13. > :22:15.which were set in some distant future or a galaxy far, far away.
:22:16. > :22:22.They present a vision of a future that's just
:22:23. > :22:27.Chappie is a subversive romp of a film in
:22:28. > :22:34.which a droid is reprogrammed to think and feel for itself.
:22:35. > :22:39.Meanwhile in the dark and thought-provoking film from Alex
:22:40. > :22:45.Garland, Ex Machina, we encounter the beautiful humanoid robot Ava.
:22:46. > :22:48.A young coder sent to test Ava's human level intelligence
:22:49. > :22:52.and consciousness is soon firmly in her thrall.
:22:53. > :23:05.And in the recent hit TV series Humans, we are sold a vision
:23:06. > :23:09.of robots that can be picked up as easily as your weekend shop
:23:10. > :23:13.But some of these synths exhibit human like feelings and it's not
:23:14. > :23:16.long before the real humans are forming deep relationships with
:23:17. > :23:23.Hello Joe, I'm now securely bonded to you as my primary user.
:23:24. > :23:29.So what's the truth behind the fiction?
:23:30. > :23:31.Are we really that close to seeing human-like robots
:23:32. > :23:37.I've come to visit a house in the Hertfordshire suburbs that is
:23:38. > :24:18.Now admittedly, care-obot here doesn't
:24:19. > :24:20.look quite as one might expect from the Hollywood movies.
:24:21. > :24:29.But it's typical of where current technology is
:24:30. > :24:32.at when it comes to robots designed to help around the home.
:24:33. > :24:34.And thanks to a team at the University of Hertfordshire,
:24:35. > :24:37.it's currently on a crash course in social interaction with humans!
:24:38. > :24:39.Professor of Artificial Intelligence Kerstin Dautenhahn is in charge
:24:40. > :24:45.Kerstin, so we're in this suburban house, but it's got robots in it.
:24:46. > :24:48.When we started we did human robot interaction studies
:24:49. > :25:01.You see when they come in, and it look like a normal house from
:25:02. > :25:05.better. We equipped it with robots, lots of sensors, and lots of
:25:06. > :25:09.technology, but it's still more similar to a normal home that you
:25:10. > :25:13.We see a lot of robots in films, with artificial
:25:14. > :25:17.How do they affect people's expectations about what real world
:25:18. > :25:20.robots are actually like and what they are capable of?
:25:21. > :25:21.Science fiction movies have a huge impact.
:25:22. > :25:23.So for example, people think that robots, of course,
:25:24. > :25:26.can not only think, not only have the AI as human beings
:25:27. > :25:35.too, but they can also do lots of physical tasks very, very easily.
:25:36. > :25:42.It should not be difficult for a robot to load and unload the
:25:43. > :25:45.dishwasher or fold clothing, but teaching this to robot is a very,
:25:46. > :25:51.very hard. As well as carrying out studies with
:25:52. > :25:54.Care-o-bot - to assist elderly people
:25:55. > :26:01.in the home - Kerstin's team has built a humanoid robot called Kaspar
:26:02. > :26:04.to help children with autism. It would be disingenuous
:26:05. > :26:09.of me not to point out he's pretty A lot of adults who see him
:26:10. > :26:15.for the first time give exactly that Kaspar doesn't have
:26:16. > :26:18.a complex real human face. It's simplified in a way
:26:19. > :26:22.so that children with autism can Kaspar has several
:26:23. > :26:24.autonomous behaviours. They are, for example,
:26:25. > :26:26.triggered by touch senses. So let me just try to tickle
:26:27. > :26:29.its feet. So these are all little,
:26:30. > :26:42.simple games, but for a child with autism, these simple games help them
:26:43. > :26:49.understand the basic principles. Because in the real world,
:26:50. > :26:52.it's so complex that it's difficult for them to concentrate
:26:53. > :26:54.on the fundamental things that are important, but they can do it when
:26:55. > :26:57.they interact with such a robot. So how long is it going to be
:26:58. > :27:00.before we see multi-tasking And how long is it going to be
:27:01. > :27:04.before we see, you know, proper androids,
:27:05. > :27:09.the kind that we see in the movies? It is still a big challenge but I
:27:10. > :27:13.would expect in five to ten years time to see these systems in
:27:14. > :27:16.people's homes - maybe not of the complexity of the ones you see in
:27:17. > :27:19.science fiction, but in the sense of a system that can do a variety of
:27:20. > :27:41.tasks very well in order to help. When it comes to the science-fiction
:27:42. > :27:48.robots, the androids, from a technological point of view, we are
:27:49. > :27:54.talking about hundreds of years will stop.
:27:55. > :27:56.And I think we are certainly talking about hundreds
:27:57. > :27:59.of years to see these wonderful, versatile, human-like robots that
:28:00. > :28:01.are shown in the movies and that are almost undistinguishable
:28:02. > :28:09.That's all from me and my new best friend here.
:28:10. > :28:54.Well, the fourth named storm of the season
:28:55. > :28:57.is bearing down upon us overnight and into tomorrow,