Episode 1 Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots


Episode 1

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We are witnessing the birth of a robot.

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Believe it or not, this piece of white plastic will become a robot's arm.

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In labs across the world, we are creating advanced robots like this.

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They are developing so rapidly...

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..it's like the arrival of a new species.

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What has taken humans millennia...

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..robots have achieved in just decades.

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They look like us...

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My name is Erica.

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..move like us.

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And now they're beginning to think like us.

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I like to learn.

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This is a ball.

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Brilliant! Oh, he's looking as well.

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-I'm Dr Ben Garrod...

-One!

-..an evolutionary biologist.

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More used to studying humans and animals,

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I'm genuinely concerned by how quickly these machines are evolving.

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Do you think I could be considered human?

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No.

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I'm Professor Danielle George.

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As an electronics engineer, I spend a lot of my working life with robots.

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I think their rapid development provides an incredible opportunity for us all.

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There are literally robots as far as the eye can see, and I love it.

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Robots are changing our world.

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In this programme, we will investigate why we are obsessed with recreating ourselves...

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It's very bizarre seeing you both side-by-side.

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..whether robots really will take our jobs...

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And if their rapid development will make them outperform humans.

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So you don't see spinning wheels in Mother Nature.

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Will the rise of robots enhance our lives or threaten our survival?

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We already share our planet with nine million robots.

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They're multiplying rapidly...

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..whether we like it or not.

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We've come to a laboratory in southern France where one of the latest

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members of this new species is about to come to life.

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It looks great. Even the neck looks so detailed.

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It's like vertebrae, isn't it?

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VOICEOVER: For me, every technological breakthrough,

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every new robot, is a step forward.

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I think that would be great.

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-I'd love one in my home.

-Where's it going to live when it's not doing

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the washing? Do I just put it in a cupboard next to the Hoover?

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Is it always listening to me?

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That's interesting, that you'd see it as a person and not like your Hoover.

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It looks like a person, that's why!

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This is going to sleep in the garden, seriously.

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If I have one of these in my house, it's in the garden!

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I'm very happy studying animal skeletons,

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but I find this robot quite unnerving.

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If you hold the hand, it's just like you.

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It's got the same digits, the thumb moves the same way,

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you've got the ligaments, the tendons, the muscles.

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As an evolutionary biologist,

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what concerns me is that the impact of robots will be so monumental,

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they could threaten humanity.

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We've evolved over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years.

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These things are just bulldozing their way through, and at what point

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-will that stop?

-The faster we can go with this, the better, and I'm all for it.

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But they're like invasive species.

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I mean, I don't know why I'm holding its hand still either!

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VOICEOVER: To discover how robots really will affect our future,

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we're going to consider them from a biological perspective.

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We will investigate the evolution of robots as if they really are

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an emerging species.

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We'll try to track down the earliest robot specimens and meet their

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modern-day descendants to reveal where the species is heading

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and what that means for us all.

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I find it really disturbing that so many robots have a human-like form.

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To confront my fears, I've come to Japan...

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..to find out why we create robots in our own image.

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I'm on my way to meet one that is the pinnacle of human form.

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I'm told she's the most beautiful robot ever created.

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She lives here in Nara, Japan's ancient capital.

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I'm off to meet Erica and, as someone who's a little bit twitchy around robots,

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I'm rather nervous.

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I hope she likes me.

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It looks very bizarre that she's brushing the hair.

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This is Erica, one of the most human-like machines in the world.

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Erica's creator is Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro.

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Even the pores on her skin, she looks...

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Is she soft or is she hard?

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-Is that, is that...?

-You can touch.

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-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

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HE CHUCKLES

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Oh, she's soft.

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She is soft, and she's not cold.

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VOICEOVER: I'm captivated by Erica.

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Professor Ishiguro created her according to his concept of beauty.

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His team combined images of 30 real women using computer graphics.

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She's not in her normal habitat right now so, when you talk to her, you need to use this microphone.

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-OK.

-Just try to speak somewhat clearly, if you can.

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Be nice to her.

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There's a lot of activity going on around Erica at the moment

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but, when she starts to speak to me, she is fully autonomous.

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No-one is pressing any buttons or telling her what to say.

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It's just Erica and me.

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Hello there. May I ask your name?

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-My name is Ben.

-My name is Erica.

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It's a pleasure to meet you, Ben.

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-You too.

-Would you like to hear a little about me?

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-Yes, please.

-I was created to be the world's most advanced and most

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beautiful fully autonomous android.

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VOICEOVER: Sitting here with Erica feels a bit disconcerting and unnatural.

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I know she's not a person, but I can't help looking into her eyes,

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which must be because she looks human.

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Erica's facial expressions are created by dozens of pneumatic air cylinders.

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They act like muscles, embedded beneath her silicone skin.

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So, Ben,

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what do you do for a living?

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I am a biologist.

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-What do you do?

-I like to consider myself as kind of an ambassador to humanity.

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Do you have any hobbies?

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I guess the closest thing I have to a hobby is sitting here and ruminating

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on the meaning of my existence.

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What about you, Ben?

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What do you like to do for fun?

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More than that. I travel, I read, I go outside.

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I can't move around much, so I haven't been to many places.

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Hm.

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Do you have any favourite foods or dishes?

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I like...pizza.

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Thick or thin crust?

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Thin.

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I hope you had breakfast this morning.

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Talking too much about food makes people hungry.

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Ha-ha!

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VOICEOVER: Remarkably, this is a genuine conversation.

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Erica reacts to what I say instantly and independently.

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She may have been pre-programmed to respond to key words in my questions,

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but the exceptional thing is that, when Erica is chatting away like this,

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she is gathering fresh data.

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With every conversation, her interactions become more sophisticated,

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more natural

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and more human.

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-What is a robot?

-That's a hard question.

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I could ask you, what is a human?

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Ha-ha! It's difficult to answer, isn't it?

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I like to think of robots as the children of humanity and, like children,

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we are full of potential for good or evil.

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I know some people are afraid of robots,

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but the truth is that what we become is up to you.

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Do you think I could be considered human?

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-No.

-Maybe some day, robots will be so very human-like that whether you are

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a robot or a human will not matter so much.

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-OK.

-What else would you like to hear about?

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Well, I think, for now, that's it.

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So thanks, Erica.

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-Goodbye.

-Bye.

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I'm pretty bowled over by Erica's human-like appearance,

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and I'm shocked by how much she hooked me into a conversation,

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but I'm not convinced by Professor Ishiguro's belief that Erica can be programmed

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to express emotions.

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Can she ever have a sense of friendship, a sense of emotions?

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Can she... Does she get lonely at night?

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Does she fear the dark?

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So, it might look like she's feeling or experiencing happiness or joy

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or love, but you can't programme a cat or dog.

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-You can't programme me or I can't programme you.

-Yeah.

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To look at her now, I'm still,

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I feel rude that I'm not looking at her.

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I feel I should be facing this way.

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But I still think until we put a programme for her to love or hate or

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feel sadness or joy or to enjoy the experience of the sun on her skin,

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I can never call her a human.

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Erica may not be able to express emotions yet,

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but, as she learns from her conversations,

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she is beginning to develop a personality.

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One of Professor Ishiguro's team,

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Professor Dylan Glass, is the architect of Erica's mind.

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What's going on when her and I are chatting?

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So, a lot's going on in Erica's mind.

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We have several thousand speech behaviours and gaze motions and

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things like that linked together in a big, hierarchical flowchart

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to kind of create the robot's mind. And it's not just a script.

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It'll take data and put it into her memory, so her memory's always being

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updated with, you know, what's been talked about, what's the history,

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what did she learn about the person,

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and you can use that to craft different interactions later on.

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Do you feel an affinity with Erica?

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Do you acknowledge her, or is she just a piece of equipment?

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That's sort of a strange feeling to describe, because I'm proud when she

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does well, but, on the other hand, you can just plug her in and so,

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in that sense, it feels like a piece of equipment.

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So I think that when robots, social robots, become a part of our world,

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that's something we're all going to have to wrestle with.

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This idea of, like, it's not a person, but it's not a machine

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or a thing, it's this new category of things in between.

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Professor Ishiguro created Erica because he believes

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robots enhance society.

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Making robots like Erica appear human, friendly and helpful allows

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them to build positive and purposeful relationships with people.

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What is your background?

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Working with great apes, so chimpanzees, orang-utans...

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Ah, I see.

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VOICEOVER: For someone like me, who is so wary of robots,

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this is a bizarre concept.

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To help me understand his obsession with lifelike, but artificial,

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machines, he wants to show me another of his creations.

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Something he has literally designed...

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..in his own image.

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Similar?! It's bizarre! You really do.

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OK, he's looking good for eight years old.

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Well, I say he - you.

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It's very bizarre seeing you both side-by-side.

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For me, it's quite...it's a little bit unsettling seeing you look

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so similar and knowing that one of you is a robot.

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Do you feel an affinity with it, with him?

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Do you feel a connection with him?

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One of you is going to age and one of you is not.

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What do you do when you look different to him?

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So, you've had plastic surgery so that you look...?

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Right.

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In your mind, what separates humans from robots?

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Nothing?

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VOICEOVER: I find this conversation pretty mind-blowing.

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Why would he go to the extreme of having plastic surgery

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to keep looking like his robot twin?

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And how can he believe there is no distinction

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between humans and robots?

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Does your android have a life spark?

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Does it have part of you, a soul?

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Many Japanese people believe man-made objects can possess

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the spirit of a human.

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It's known as animism.

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I do. I need an android.

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I don't think I'm ready for a Ben Garrod android just yet.

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Japan has embraced robots like nowhere else.

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It's a real love affair.

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The belief that objects we make can possess the spirit of a human

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is deeply rooted in Japan's religions.

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These traditional beliefs could help explain Japan's desire

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to create friendly, human-like robots...

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..and treat them as equals.

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In Japan's reverence for robots, the ancient and the modern

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go hand-in-hand.

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In the West, we have less empathy for robots.

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In fact, many of us openly distrust them.

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There's a mentality that first they'll take our jobs,

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and then they'll take control of our lives.

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From my experience so far in Japan,

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it seems like that mentality simply doesn't exist.

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In the West, it's a different story.

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Many people are afraid of robots,

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and I want to know where this fear comes from.

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This is Eric,

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a scary mechanical man.

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Born in 1928,

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he's the very first British robot.

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He's on display in the Science Museum in London.

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And I think he could help explain why people are unnerved by them.

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Eric may be a towering six-foot-two mechanical marvel,

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but he does have the look of a human about him.

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What also humanised Eric was that he could talk.

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Let's take a closer look.

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For some people, Eric must've been intimidating.

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A knight in armour, with light bulbs painted red for his eyes

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and 25,000 volts of electricity causing blue sparks

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to shoot from his jagged teeth.

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Eric was a novelty act, built to open an exhibition.

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But he disappeared from history.

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This is a modern replica,

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and the man behind his rebirth

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is curator Ben Russell.

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But in the 1920s, they seemed quite obsessed with making robots

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in human form.

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We are fascinated by ourselves.

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It's what we do as humans, actually.

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We tend to anthropomorphise. We love to recreate ourselves.

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It's actually quite a powerful proposition.

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You're saying, actually, I think we're this. I think I'm a machine

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or whatever, and, actually, robots are really like mirrors.

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They make you think about yourself.

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In the 1920s, that mirror reflected an image of a fearsome robot,

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and it was already deeply embedded in our cultural imagination

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by a dark, dystopian novel.

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The word "robot" comes from Karel Capek's play,

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Rossum's Universal Robots, 1920.

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In Czech, the word "robot" means serfdom or drudgery or slave.

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It's become a familiar plot.

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Robots lived amongst us,

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but eventually rebelled and exterminated the human race.

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I mean, it's way ahead of its time. 50 years ahead of Blade Runner and

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Westworld and all those sorts of films.

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Robots are a very useful baddie for film-makers.

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-Yeah.

-That put people off balance and film-makers exploited that.

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And there are things like The Terminator.

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You know, it...

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It had to be in here.

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He looks like it's got a bit of a broken nose.

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He's a bit of a bruiser, isn't he?

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It was a great package of nastiness, which has stuck with us,

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and it just sticks in the memory because of that.

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There's always some slight niggling doubt that they are going to destroy

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us all and take over the world and that sort of thing.

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For me, what really matters is not how robots behave in works of fiction,

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but what they can actually do in the real world.

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And what people worry about more than anything else

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is that they will take our jobs.

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This is Mansfield...

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..a rust-belt backwater in Ohio.

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I'm here to track down one of the first robots that could move.

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Movement is what gives robots their power,

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and sowed the seed for them to compete for our jobs.

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It began with the first ever robot salesman.

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I find the place quite sad, really.

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There's a lot of, sort of, abandoned houses.

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Empty areas around here.

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Hard to imagine that this was once

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a hub of industry and the home of robotics.

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Before the Second World War,

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this place was dominated by the mighty Westinghouse Electric,

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one of the world's largest home appliance manufacturers.

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They harnessed a new form of energy that was rapidly making machines

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part of everyday life.

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Electricity.

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This provided the spark for the development of robotic movement.

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To help sell their electric appliances in 1937,

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and to show off their technical capabilities,

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Westinghouse Electric created a robot.

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And its name was Elektro.

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And so, ladies and gentlemen, with a great deal of pride and pleasure,

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I present to you Elektro, the Westinghouse moto-man.

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Elektro, come here.

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Standing seven foot tall, and weighing in at 20st,

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Elektro was an instant celebrity.

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And here he comes, ladies and gentlemen,

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walking up to greet you under his own power.

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It was electric power that enabled Elektro to move and perform tricks.

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Count on...your...right hand.

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One, two, three,

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four, five.

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Five? Well, that's absolutely correct.

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I want to find out more about how exactly Elektro moved.

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To do that, I've got to meet him in person.

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Today, at Mansfield Memorial Museum,

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Elektro is still on show.

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So, this is Elektro.

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He is a big robot.

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I mean, look at the size of me. I'm pretty tall.

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But not scary.

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Not scary at all, actually.

0:22:330:22:35

You can see the fingers.

0:22:350:22:37

The fingers have obviously got springs in here.

0:22:370:22:39

I'm going to go round the back and have a look.

0:22:390:22:42

Wow, OK.

0:22:430:22:45

So, you can see what's going on a bit more here.

0:22:450:22:47

VOICEOVER: This is great.

0:22:470:22:49

Three motors...

0:22:490:22:50

VOICEOVER: As an engineer, I love rooting around motors and wires

0:22:500:22:54

to figure out what makes robots tick.

0:22:540:22:57

You can see these great levers and cogs that would have obviously

0:22:570:23:01

pulled the, sort of, tendons from the fingers up the arms,

0:23:010:23:06

into the shoulder.

0:23:060:23:08

When the arm would move up, the lever would move down,

0:23:080:23:12

onto this limit switch.

0:23:120:23:14

This limit switch broke the flow of electricity to the arm's motor.

0:23:140:23:18

So, the switch would then say, "OK, you've reached your limit.

0:23:190:23:22

"Now you can go back down again."

0:23:220:23:24

But what's still unclear is how Elektro was controlled

0:23:240:23:28

during his stage performances.

0:23:280:23:30

To get to the bottom of this,

0:23:320:23:34

I'm meeting a man who knows the robot's innermost secrets.

0:23:340:23:37

Next here.

0:23:390:23:40

Frank Ruth is 84 years old.

0:23:450:23:47

In the early 1940s,

0:23:500:23:51

he single-handedly took Elektro on a tour across the United States.

0:23:510:23:55

Hi, Frank.

0:23:580:23:59

Golly! This is so...

0:23:590:24:01

-Nice to see you.

-Lovely to meet you.

0:24:030:24:05

So, lovely to meet you.

0:24:050:24:07

-Come on in.

-Oh, thank you!

0:24:070:24:10

I wasn't sure if you could find us or not.

0:24:100:24:12

Yeah, I'm glad you were there waiting for me, waving.

0:24:120:24:15

I was on the road seven days a week.

0:24:180:24:20

I don't know why they picked me.

0:24:210:24:22

But, er, I didn't even know how to hook up a couple of wires.

0:24:240:24:30

I learned in a hurry, believe me.

0:24:300:24:32

Yeah, I can imagine.

0:24:320:24:33

So, why do you think people found Elektro so interesting?

0:24:330:24:36

It was something they couldn't believe.

0:24:360:24:38

It's always interesting how people thought there was somebody

0:24:380:24:42

under the stage.

0:24:420:24:43

They even thought that there was somebody inside this thing.

0:24:430:24:48

All right now, Elektro, I know you enjoy these,

0:24:480:24:50

and I'm really going to try to give you a nice pleasure out of these.

0:24:500:24:53

So, here you are.

0:24:530:24:55

The whole Electro sequence and the, er, was...

0:24:560:24:59

..er, by voice command.

0:25:010:25:04

You would be talking into a two-way microphone.

0:25:040:25:08

It was at that point that you could open the connection,

0:25:080:25:13

and then you could jump him to one of his different tricks.

0:25:130:25:17

Elektro was controlled using single-syllable words

0:25:190:25:22

spoken into the microphone.

0:25:220:25:24

The words were converted into electrical impulses

0:25:240:25:28

by a photoelectric tube inside Elektro's chest.

0:25:280:25:32

-Our audience.

-You...may...now smoke...

0:25:320:25:35

..this cigarette.

0:25:360:25:37

These impulses set off a series of relays

0:25:380:25:41

which triggered Elektro's motors

0:25:410:25:43

and activated his tricks.

0:25:430:25:45

It didn't matter which words were used, as long as they were spoken in

0:25:470:25:51

a staccato fashion.

0:25:510:25:53

-STACCATO:

-Will you tell...

0:25:540:25:55

..your...story, please?

0:25:570:26:00

Who, me?

0:26:030:26:05

Yes, you.

0:26:050:26:06

OK, Toots.

0:26:060:26:07

LAUGHTER

0:26:070:26:09

I thought, you know, this is, this is a gimmick.

0:26:090:26:13

I didn't really feel that robots were going to take over the world.

0:26:130:26:17

I know there were people who thought that, and today,

0:26:170:26:21

and I see pictures on television,

0:26:210:26:24

it just absolutely amazes me what robots can do.

0:26:240:26:29

And I think, gee,

0:26:290:26:31

did I have a little part in that?

0:26:310:26:33

Thanks to Elektro, robots were on the move.

0:26:500:26:53

Elektro's movement was very basic.

0:26:550:26:58

He could only perform a few simple tricks.

0:27:000:27:03

Yet he had captured the world's imagination.

0:27:050:27:07

The next step to allow robots to play a more useful role in society

0:27:100:27:14

was to try to make their hands perfectly imitate human hands.

0:27:140:27:19

Thank you.

0:27:220:27:23

Our hands are made up of muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves,

0:27:260:27:31

and each one has 27 bones.

0:27:310:27:33

All of these are crucial if we are to use our hands with precision.

0:27:330:27:37

VOICEOVER: The human hand is incredibly complex.

0:27:370:27:40

Every independent movement of a joint

0:27:400:27:43

is known as a degree of freedom.

0:27:430:27:45

This means our hands are highly manoeuvrable.

0:27:470:27:50

Let's imagine what's involved when you eat sushi.

0:27:510:27:53

Your fingers bend and twist.

0:27:530:27:55

Your grip is effortless.

0:27:550:27:57

Your fingers, hand,

0:27:570:27:59

wrist and arm all move at the perfect speed

0:27:590:28:02

with just the right amount of fluidity and coordination.

0:28:020:28:06

Take in the individual tasks needed for this seemingly simple job,

0:28:070:28:12

then suddenly eating sushi becomes a Herculean task.

0:28:120:28:15

To create robots with flexible, dextrous hands,

0:28:200:28:23

robot-makers turned away from industry

0:28:230:28:26

to something that required more artistry.

0:28:260:28:29

Music.

0:28:320:28:33

This is Waseda University's Humanoid Robotics Institute in Tokyo.

0:28:410:28:46

I've come here to meet the next key robot in the evolution of movement.

0:28:500:28:55

It was a keyboard player.

0:28:570:28:59

Wabot-2.

0:29:010:29:03

Dr Sugano was part of the Waseda team that built Wabot-2 in 1984.

0:29:060:29:13

Sugano-san, this is a beautiful robot.

0:29:130:29:16

It's almost as though we have the tendons and the muscles in the arm,

0:29:160:29:19

and it's very similar to a human arm here,

0:29:190:29:21

this big rotation up in the shoulder, this,

0:29:210:29:24

you call it a hinge joint in the elbow,

0:29:240:29:27

and then these very dextrous fingers.

0:29:270:29:29

To control Wabot-2's impressive 50 degrees of freedom,

0:29:440:29:48

Dr Sugano took advantage of one of the breakthrough technologies

0:29:480:29:53

of the early 1980s -

0:29:530:29:55

the microcomputer.

0:29:550:29:57

Now, he's moving very, very quickly then.

0:30:160:30:18

You can see these very humanlike fingers.

0:30:180:30:21

Wabot-2's microcomputers are a highly sophisticated version

0:30:220:30:27

of Elektro's control unit that tell Wabot-2 exactly how to move.

0:30:270:30:31

KEYBOARD MUSIC

0:30:310:30:33

The microcomputers mimicked the human nervous system...

0:30:370:30:40

..and transmitted signals along Wabot-2's electrical cables

0:30:420:30:46

to its fingers.

0:30:460:30:47

How fast were the fingers when he was functioning?

0:30:490:30:53

20 times a second?

0:30:570:30:59

That's much faster than a human.

0:31:000:31:02

Right.

0:31:110:31:12

Amazingly, Wabot-2's fingers

0:31:120:31:14

outperformed the fastest human players.

0:31:140:31:17

How was it capable of doing that? What was going on inside?

0:31:180:31:21

Right.

0:31:380:31:40

Of course.

0:31:460:31:47

Wabot-2 may have played his final encore...

0:31:560:31:59

..but, for me, his legacy endures.

0:32:000:32:02

This Japanese robot enhanced people's lives

0:32:050:32:08

and showcased the potential

0:32:080:32:10

for robots to take on more sophisticated tasks.

0:32:100:32:14

The human hand is so incredibly complex...

0:32:180:32:21

..that, so far, no-one has been able to mass-produce

0:32:230:32:25

a robotic version of it.

0:32:250:32:28

But this hasn't stopped robot hands from developing,

0:32:280:32:30

and it's this that gives them the potential to do many of the jobs

0:32:300:32:34

that we do.

0:32:340:32:35

Robots now follow their own evolutionary path,

0:32:420:32:46

rather than mimicking ours.

0:32:460:32:48

They are developing hands unique to them.

0:32:490:32:53

At Mini's car plant on the outskirts of Oxford...

0:32:590:33:02

..this is a land of robots.

0:33:040:33:06

More than 900 of them...

0:33:080:33:10

..build the bodies of 1,000 new cars...

0:33:120:33:15

..every single day...

0:33:170:33:20

..with barely a human in sight.

0:33:220:33:25

I feel like I'm in a robotic Jurassic Park.

0:33:270:33:31

These robots feel strong and powerful and a little bit menacing.

0:33:310:33:36

This new species have found their habitat and they're thriving.

0:33:360:33:40

I wonder if Ben would like it? The robots are behind bars.

0:33:440:33:47

The mutant hands of these robot dinosaurs are claws.

0:33:480:33:54

They lift car bodies weighing up to 400kg

0:33:570:34:01

and with up to 6,000 spot welds on a car, they're kept busy.

0:34:010:34:06

With their claws doing the hard graft,

0:34:090:34:12

robot arms have replaced humans on the factory floor.

0:34:120:34:15

I'm captivated by these incredible machines.

0:34:170:34:21

They work in perfect harmony,

0:34:210:34:24

robot hand in robot hand.

0:34:240:34:26

This is so frustrating.

0:34:280:34:30

As an engineer, I want to get in here.

0:34:300:34:33

I want to see how these robots work, but I can't.

0:34:330:34:36

When I met Elektro I was able to hold Elektro's hand

0:34:380:34:41

but I can't get anywhere near these robots.

0:34:410:34:44

To understand why these robots are thriving here,

0:34:460:34:49

I need to speak to a human.

0:34:490:34:50

Alex McKenzie is a quality specialist at the plant.

0:34:520:34:55

Alex, tell me what's going on here in this part of the production plant.

0:34:560:35:00

What are these robots doing?

0:35:000:35:01

The line immediately in front of us here is a spot welding line.

0:35:010:35:05

The shape of the underbody of each of the Mini vehicles is set a few

0:35:050:35:09

stations further behind and then the spot welding activity joins all the

0:35:090:35:13

-panels together.

-What's the benefit of having robots here over humans?

0:35:130:35:18

Robots are predictable.

0:35:180:35:20

They're not perfect but they're predictable.

0:35:200:35:22

VOICEOVER: They perform pre-programmed repetitive tasks

0:35:250:35:27

much more reliably than humans.

0:35:270:35:30

So people watching this might think that these robots

0:35:310:35:35

are taking human jobs.

0:35:350:35:36

Is that the case?

0:35:360:35:38

It's very densely populated by robots but you will often see people

0:35:380:35:41

milling around. I can see a guy in the background there scooting along.

0:35:410:35:44

In fact, around 650 humans work

0:35:460:35:48

alongside the robots in the welding area alone.

0:35:480:35:51

It's a change in skill set.

0:35:530:35:55

Previous manufacturing methods have been heavily dependent

0:35:550:35:59

on manual hand skills.

0:35:590:36:01

Now it's more to do with the automation.

0:36:010:36:03

It's all done on the computer.

0:36:030:36:04

It's programming work.

0:36:040:36:06

It's observation.

0:36:060:36:07

It's setting up sensors, that kind of thing.

0:36:070:36:09

With powerful, predictable robot arms,

0:36:100:36:13

and highly skilled people managing them,

0:36:130:36:15

the manufacturers believe they can produce better quality, cheaper cars.

0:36:150:36:21

It's a pattern repeated in factories all over the world.

0:36:220:36:26

The advancement in technology has led to certainly

0:36:290:36:32

efficiencies in cost

0:36:320:36:33

which allows you to attain those efficiencies and quality

0:36:330:36:36

as well for a lower price. It's a good thing for everyone.

0:36:360:36:39

The whole place just oozes

0:36:430:36:46

energy and industry and production.

0:36:460:36:50

There are literally robots as far as the eye can see

0:36:500:36:55

in every direction here.

0:36:550:36:57

And I love it.

0:36:570:36:58

With their claws, stumps and one-fingered hands,

0:37:040:37:07

robots have gone through their own version of natural selection.

0:37:070:37:12

This mutation away from the human form has transformed our job market.

0:37:130:37:18

Worldwide, factories are filled with over three million industrial robots.

0:37:200:37:26

We've built a robot world and kept them safely contained in cages...

0:37:290:37:34

..for now.

0:37:350:37:36

Some experts predict that by 2030,

0:37:380:37:41

robots could have taken up to 30% of our jobs,

0:37:410:37:44

but we've sort of been here before.

0:37:440:37:48

Many people were concerned about the pace of change during

0:37:480:37:51

the Industrial Revolution, yet in general, it led

0:37:510:37:54

to wealth and prosperity.

0:37:540:37:56

I think we should embrace the robot revolution, not fear it.

0:37:570:38:01

And nowhere has embraced the robot revolution more than Japan.

0:38:050:38:10

I want to discover how they've encouraged robots

0:38:120:38:15

to adapt to our world.

0:38:150:38:16

It's an environment tailored to human needs.

0:38:190:38:21

To navigate through it, robots will need to move around like we do.

0:38:230:38:27

By walking.

0:38:290:38:30

It's Sunday afternoon.

0:38:330:38:35

A time of the week when Tokyo heads to the park.

0:38:360:38:40

When humans became distinct from other apes,

0:38:420:38:44

our legs were one of the key things that set us apart.

0:38:440:38:47

Walking on two legs is called bipedal locomotion

0:38:490:38:51

and it helps distinguish us from other animals.

0:38:510:38:54

We walk fluidly without thinking too much about it.

0:38:580:39:02

And our balance is effortless.

0:39:030:39:06

But for robots, walking on two legs is not straightforward.

0:39:080:39:14

That's because it's the most difficult movement they make.

0:39:140:39:16

At Waseda University,

0:39:180:39:20

I want to find out how engineers pioneered a ground-breaking

0:39:200:39:24

transformation in robotic walking.

0:39:240:39:26

Their first challenge was to build legs that were flexible enough and

0:39:310:39:35

powerful enough to walk independently, like a human.

0:39:350:39:39

This is WHL-11.

0:39:440:39:46

Built in 1985, it is one of the first autonomous walking robots.

0:39:500:39:55

Doctor Fuji helped create a robot that mirrors our biological anatomy

0:40:020:40:07

with mechanical anatomy.

0:40:070:40:10

Fuji-san, this robot is one of the first that was bipedal,

0:40:100:40:14

-so walking on two legs, yes?

-Yes.

0:40:140:40:18

So it's got the feet down the bottom.

0:40:180:40:20

It's got the knees in the middle.

0:40:200:40:22

You've got this big area of hips up here.

0:40:230:40:26

Yes.

0:40:260:40:28

VOICEOVER: WHL-11's legs are just under a metre tall,

0:40:280:40:32

the same size as our human legs.

0:40:320:40:34

We control the rotation of our joints with muscles.

0:40:350:40:39

In robots, this is done by actuators.

0:40:390:40:41

I guess these are controlling the movement.

0:40:430:40:45

To walk independently,

0:40:540:40:56

Doctor Fuji helped engineer a small, lightweight hydraulic motor that can

0:40:560:41:01

be mounted on WHL-11's waist.

0:41:010:41:03

In the mid-1980s, this was cutting-edge technology.

0:41:050:41:08

What distance could it walk, five metres, 5km?

0:41:170:41:20

60km?

0:41:240:41:26

An Olympic robot walker.

0:41:290:41:31

Yes.

0:41:310:41:32

No, of course.

0:41:370:41:38

The same as walking?

0:41:380:41:41

Really?

0:41:410:41:43

Like that and like that and so on.

0:41:430:41:46

WHL-11 was capable of just five steps a minute.

0:41:470:41:51

When humans first became bipedal,

0:41:520:41:55

like WHL-11 we probably had a slow, lumbering gait too.

0:41:550:41:59

As our pelvis evolved, we could shift our centre of gravity.

0:42:020:42:06

Our walking became fast and smooth.

0:42:080:42:11

Just around the corner from WHL-11 is a robot that solved this next

0:42:130:42:18

evolutionary hurdle.

0:42:180:42:20

Built just 20 years after WHL-11, this is Wabian 2.

0:42:270:42:33

Wabian 2 is one of the first robots with a humanlike pelvis.

0:42:370:42:41

This gives it the ability to walk faster and more fluidly.

0:42:450:42:49

It was invented by Professor Takanishi.

0:42:560:42:59

Takanishi-san, when humans walk around

0:42:590:43:02

we have very fluid, dynamic movement -

0:43:020:43:05

our knees bend, our ankles twist, our hips rotate, we've got gait,

0:43:050:43:09

wonderful gait.

0:43:090:43:10

-You decided to take this to the next step with this robot.

-Yes.

0:43:100:43:13

-Just like ours?

-Yes.

0:43:360:43:38

Wabian 2 mirrors our human gait by shifting its centre of gravity.

0:43:500:43:53

Fully extending the knees liberates the feet and propels the robot's

0:43:550:44:00

centre of gravity forwards.

0:44:000:44:02

As it shifts backwards, one of the feet lands.

0:44:020:44:06

And then the other foot takes off.

0:44:060:44:08

Just like we do.

0:44:090:44:10

It's wonderful that we can look at humans and say we can see this clear

0:44:110:44:15

evolution from apes like chimpanzees to humans, this change,

0:44:150:44:19

and you've got the same evolution with your robot here.

0:44:190:44:22

-Haven't you?

-Yes.

0:44:220:44:23

It was millions of years before humans learned to walk on two legs.

0:44:270:44:31

By following our evolutionary path,

0:44:330:44:36

these pioneering robots have mastered bipedal locomotion...

0:44:360:44:41

..in just decades.

0:44:420:44:43

But now, on the outskirts of Boston...

0:44:560:44:59

..a world-renowned robot maker

0:45:020:45:05

is trying to take this emerging species in

0:45:050:45:08

a completely different direction.

0:45:080:45:10

By liberating machines from the constraints of human form.

0:45:110:45:16

Robot walking has diverged from our evolutionary path...

0:45:170:45:21

..and taken on a life of its own.

0:45:230:45:25

I'm on my way to meet one of the most advanced moving robots

0:45:260:45:30

on the planet. More than just a master of moving,

0:45:300:45:34

it's the ultimate combination of mobility, agility,

0:45:340:45:38

dexterity and speed.

0:45:380:45:40

And the woods near Boston are its playground.

0:45:410:45:44

This is Atlas.

0:45:490:45:51

He's out for a stroll.

0:45:550:45:57

The robot was built to tackle the toughest terrain

0:45:580:46:02

in the toughest conditions.

0:46:020:46:04

This is the home of Boston Dynamics.

0:46:120:46:14

They get thousands of media requests,

0:46:140:46:17

so being able to film here is a real coup.

0:46:170:46:20

Kevin. Hi.

0:46:240:46:26

-Nice to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you.

0:46:260:46:27

You as well.

0:46:270:46:29

-VOICEOVER:

-Kevin Blankespoor is the vice-president of Controls.

0:46:290:46:33

Do you want to come in the lab?

0:46:330:46:34

-I'll actually show you the latest and greatest.

-Brilliant, OK. Thank you.

0:46:340:46:37

-VOICEOVER:

-The robots Kevin has helped mastermind push the frontier of robotic movement.

0:46:390:46:44

The really good stuff's back here.

0:46:440:46:46

Excellent.

0:46:460:46:47

Their videos, like these, get millions of hits online.

0:46:510:46:55

For some, their hi-tech creations are terrifying.

0:47:000:47:04

But, for me, they are awe-inspiring.

0:47:070:47:10

-This is Atlas.

-Wow!

-This is our latest and greatest humanoid robot.

0:47:100:47:13

-That's great.

-This is probably the only humanoid robot you're going to

0:47:130:47:16

see walking around outside in the snow, in the mud,

0:47:160:47:20

just in the real world.

0:47:200:47:21

It's battery-powered.

0:47:210:47:23

That battery basically spins an electric motor

0:47:230:47:26

that turns a hydraulic pump,

0:47:260:47:27

and that provides hydraulic fluid to all the actuators.

0:47:270:47:30

We're a big fan of that, because it's really strong and really fast.

0:47:300:47:33

-Yeah.

-They are also really robust.

0:47:330:47:35

We don't take it easy on the robots.

0:47:380:47:39

It's about a metre and a half tall.

0:47:430:47:44

It weighs about 90kg.

0:47:460:47:47

So I'm surprised at its height.

0:47:480:47:50

I mean, it's pretty small, actually. It's like human height.

0:47:500:47:53

Yeah, yeah.

0:47:530:47:54

To move around the human world, Atlas walks in a similar way to us.

0:47:580:48:03

People walk dynamically,

0:48:040:48:06

so we don't try to keep our centre of mass over our foot.

0:48:060:48:08

We're actually kind of always falling.

0:48:080:48:10

It's a controlled fall but, you know,

0:48:100:48:12

we have our foot down here and our centre of mass will be way out on

0:48:120:48:14

the edge, and we're kind of taking these long strides and, you know,

0:48:140:48:18

naturally letting our centre of mass fall.

0:48:180:48:21

To cope with the obstacles and different terrain

0:48:230:48:25

in our human environment,

0:48:250:48:27

Atlas's balance is guided by dozens of onboard sensors.

0:48:270:48:32

What's the rotating head here?

0:48:320:48:34

Yeah, so this is the perception system.

0:48:340:48:36

So, you know, this is basically its version of how it sees the world,

0:48:360:48:39

the way a person would. And so there's two main sensors.

0:48:390:48:42

There's this sensor, which is stereo vision.

0:48:420:48:44

The stereo vision looks out several metres.

0:48:440:48:46

That helps it find good footholds, avoid obstacles, things like that.

0:48:460:48:49

And this lidar is basically a laser rangefinder.

0:48:490:48:52

It's got 32 laser rangefinders that spin around and give you about

0:48:520:48:55

a million points per second of where the world is around it.

0:48:550:48:59

So this one looks further out,

0:48:590:49:00

and this will help you find walls and other obstacles and things like

0:49:000:49:03

that, so you can navigate through them.

0:49:030:49:05

Each one of these joints actually has a position sensor and a floor

0:49:050:49:08

sensor, especially the ones down the legs.

0:49:080:49:10

Plus we've got a gyroscope in the pelvis

0:49:100:49:12

and so, with all those sensors,

0:49:120:49:14

we're kind of always sensing how we're falling.

0:49:140:49:16

That's the key part. You actually have to know how fast am I going,

0:49:160:49:20

where am I going, to figure out where to put down that next foot.

0:49:200:49:22

So these sensors help us find basically no-go regions.

0:49:220:49:25

We call them no-step regions, obstacles,

0:49:250:49:27

so that I can still maintain my balance,

0:49:270:49:29

even as I'm working my way through, you know, tougher terrain,

0:49:290:49:32

like up a staircase or through a hallway.

0:49:320:49:34

So, just like a human, then?

0:49:340:49:36

-It's getting there.

-Yeah.

-That's the goal.

-Incredible.

0:49:360:49:38

VOICEOVER: To enable Atlas to walk like humans,

0:49:390:49:42

Kevin and the team focused on the robot's strength-to-weight ratio.

0:49:420:49:47

If you look at this upper leg here,

0:49:470:49:49

I can grab a version of this that's cut open, so you can see the inside.

0:49:490:49:53

I totally redesigned the leg to use 3-D printed aluminium.

0:49:530:49:56

So what used to take dozens of pieces we can now print out of one piece of aluminium.

0:49:560:50:00

That allowed us to make a leg that's about the same strength

0:50:000:50:03

as the big robots, but at about half the weight.

0:50:030:50:05

Wow, it is actually really light.

0:50:050:50:07

Yeah, it's probably a similar weight to your upper leg.

0:50:070:50:10

-Really?

-Yeah.

0:50:100:50:11

I'd love to see what it's like inside when it's got all of

0:50:110:50:14

-the other bits.

-Yes. This is Aaron Saunders.

0:50:140:50:16

-He's our vice-president of Hardware.

-Hi.

0:50:160:50:18

-Nice to meet you.

-He also led the design team for the Atlas robot,

0:50:180:50:21

so he can tell you more about the leg.

0:50:210:50:23

So one of the most important things about this leg is that buried in it

0:50:230:50:26

are hydraulic components.

0:50:260:50:28

Underneath this cover on the leg is a series of hydraulic valves.

0:50:280:50:32

And these hydraulic valves take the high-pressure fluid

0:50:320:50:34

that's generated in the upper body

0:50:340:50:36

and they redirect it into the actuators that make

0:50:360:50:39

the joints move.

0:50:390:50:40

So the hydraulics is kind of like the muscles for the robot,

0:50:400:50:43

and the valves are what controls those muscles.

0:50:430:50:46

And you can see all these colour channels here represent little veins

0:50:460:50:49

where the fluid routes through the leg.

0:50:490:50:51

So that's quite like the human anatomy.

0:50:510:50:54

There's a lot of similarities in how it looks,

0:50:540:50:57

and the way the fluids move around the robot have a lot of overlap with

0:50:570:51:00

-how we would move fluids around our bodies.

-Yeah.

0:51:000:51:02

Many of their robots are inspired by animals.

0:51:050:51:08

The limitations of human form have been removed.

0:51:100:51:13

Big Dog, their first robot, was designed for the military.

0:51:140:51:19

Carrying a heavy payload through terrain

0:51:200:51:23

that vehicles find impossible.

0:51:230:51:25

And this is their latest creation -

0:51:280:51:30

a hybrid robot with legs and wheels.

0:51:330:51:37

Top speed, 9mph.

0:51:380:51:41

Range, 15 miles.

0:51:410:51:43

This is Atlas' cousin, Handle.

0:51:470:51:50

Wow. You can see that there are some similarities with Atlas,

0:51:500:51:55

I mean, this looks similar, this sort of looks similar.

0:51:550:51:58

Yes, it's a great observation,

0:51:580:52:00

the upper body is actually borrowed from Atlas so the arms and torso are

0:52:000:52:03

basically the same. Now, see the arms,

0:52:030:52:05

here we actually mount them to the pelvis

0:52:050:52:07

and that looks kind of funny but

0:52:070:52:09

it allows us to do some interesting things.

0:52:090:52:11

So now this big torso is

0:52:110:52:12

actually free to move back and forth

0:52:120:52:14

and plays a real critical element for balance

0:52:140:52:17

so if you think about when you're trying to stand still and

0:52:170:52:19

someone gives you a little shove,

0:52:190:52:21

if you don't want to step you'll do a lot with your upper body to maintain balance.

0:52:210:52:25

Handle does the same thing but it can do that without its arms moving

0:52:250:52:28

around, so its arms are still down to the pelvis.

0:52:280:52:30

They can be doing manipulation while the upper body is moving around

0:52:300:52:34

to help with balance.

0:52:340:52:35

Great, so it still maintains its ability to do something,

0:52:350:52:39

an application, whilst maintaining its balance.

0:52:390:52:42

Yeah, but the lower body is entirely new.

0:52:420:52:44

We basically took off the constraints of a human form

0:52:440:52:47

and said, well, you know, what if we opened ourselves up to

0:52:470:52:51

a human but plus some machine things like wheels?

0:52:510:52:53

You don't see spinning wheels in Mother Nature but there's no reason

0:52:530:52:57

we couldn't add a wheel to a leg and get the best of both worlds.

0:52:570:53:00

It's far more stable and far more efficient than the legged things

0:53:000:53:03

we've done in the past.

0:53:030:53:05

So it's more stable, more efficient.

0:53:050:53:07

And it's less complex.

0:53:070:53:09

Yeah, so that's a big advantage.

0:53:090:53:10

-Yeah, that's really good.

-We think it actually has a lot of potential

0:53:100:53:13

because it has a long battery life, it's very stable,

0:53:130:53:16

it's fast, so, you know, you could think about it working

0:53:160:53:18

at a rapid rate.

0:53:180:53:19

WHIRRING

0:53:210:53:22

It seems like Handle is trying to tell us something with that noise.

0:53:220:53:25

-What is it?

-Yeah, what you're hearing right now is the hydraulic pump.

0:53:250:53:29

OK, so it will just carry on doing that while it's stationary?

0:53:290:53:31

-Yeah, yeah.

-HIGHER PITCHED WHIRRING

0:53:310:53:33

And that's a fan, of course.

0:53:330:53:34

It's certainly seen some action.

0:53:360:53:38

Yeah, yeah. It's funny, that's kind of true with all of our robots.

0:53:380:53:42

You know, we have a mentality where we don't take it easy on the robots.

0:53:420:53:45

We don't have a problem pushing them to the edge to see how stable they

0:53:510:53:55

are and how they're able to react to the real world.

0:53:550:53:57

The real world isn't a perfect laboratory

0:53:590:54:01

where everything goes as planned.

0:54:010:54:03

Do you ever feel like sorry for Handle,

0:54:050:54:08

you know, when you give it a good push?

0:54:080:54:09

-Do you feel sorry for IT?

-It's funny, you know,

0:54:090:54:11

we certainly get that reaction from people sometimes. You know,

0:54:110:54:14

when you design these things from the ground up and you know all of

0:54:140:54:17

the mechanical pieces and software, you know it's a machine so

0:54:170:54:21

even though it can look, especially for Atlas or Spot,

0:54:210:54:24

like a person or an animal, you know, there's no emotions here,

0:54:240:54:27

it's all robotics,

0:54:270:54:29

it's all hardware and I certainly don't feel bad if I slap my

0:54:290:54:32

toaster around a little bit either.

0:54:320:54:33

Yeah.

0:54:330:54:34

Give your washing machine door a good shove.

0:54:340:54:37

Yeah, that's right, that's right, yeah,

0:54:370:54:39

I don't have to go confess after that.

0:54:390:54:41

Yeah.

0:54:410:54:42

I have seen some amazing machines here.

0:54:450:54:49

Two-legged, humanoid robots,

0:54:490:54:51

four-legged robots that look like animals.

0:54:510:54:54

Their latest incarnation combines biology with technology,

0:54:540:54:59

mixing and matching animals, humans, our own inventions, the wheel.

0:54:590:55:04

This may seem unnatural but, once you've seen it all,

0:55:050:55:09

it makes complete sense.

0:55:090:55:11

We're only beginning to understand

0:55:230:55:25

the potential of this emerging species.

0:55:250:55:28

Building robots that mimic humans continues to spark the imagination.

0:55:300:55:35

But now robots have adaptations that follow

0:55:360:55:40

a very different evolutionary track.

0:55:400:55:42

With mutant hands...

0:55:450:55:46

..and hybrid limbs.

0:55:490:55:50

For me, it's been a revelation to understand the origins of our

0:55:580:56:02

relationship with robots.

0:56:020:56:04

And even, why some people really do fear them.

0:56:040:56:07

There is no doubt they have restructured the jobs market

0:56:070:56:11

and this will continue.

0:56:110:56:13

But the biggest thing has been how fast robots are developing.

0:56:140:56:19

We need to engage in this fascinating phenomenon

0:56:190:56:22

to make sure that we have

0:56:220:56:24

the choice over what we want robots to do.

0:56:240:56:27

For all of us.

0:56:270:56:28

And for me, I'm really surprised by what I discovered.

0:56:320:56:36

So I've spent a little bit of time with robots now and, yes,

0:56:360:56:41

I've seen that, OK,

0:56:410:56:43

they're not quite as terrifying or as threatening

0:56:430:56:46

as I maybe first thought, but that will change.

0:56:460:56:49

In the next few years, physically at least,

0:56:490:56:52

they'll be able to out compete us in many of the things that we can do.

0:56:520:56:55

But for me, the real problem isn't if they move like us

0:56:560:57:00

or even look like us -

0:57:000:57:02

the real issue will come if they start to think like us.

0:57:020:57:04

Fire!

0:57:090:57:11

Next time, we investigate

0:57:110:57:13

what really distinguishes robots from humans.

0:57:130:57:16

You see something's already happening.

0:57:160:57:18

Intelligence.

0:57:180:57:19

He's come straight for me.

0:57:190:57:21

Can robots become our friends?

0:57:210:57:24

Konnichiwa.

0:57:240:57:25

ROBOT: Konnichiwa.

0:57:250:57:26

-This is helping to break down a barrier.

-Yeah, yeah.

0:57:260:57:28

Can we trust them?

0:57:280:57:31

Feet are off, my feet are off.

0:57:310:57:33

-My hands are off.

-Yeah, that's good.

0:57:330:57:34

And will they ever become conscious?

0:57:340:57:37

Find a cup.

0:57:380:57:40

OK, now I'm looking for a cup.

0:57:400:57:42

And he's tracking the cup.

0:57:420:57:44

-VOICEOVER:

-Will intelligent robots enhance our lives...

0:57:440:57:48

She will help set up a home for humans...

0:57:480:57:50

..on Mars.

0:57:520:57:54

..or threaten our survival?

0:57:540:57:56

Investigate the past,

0:58:000:58:02

present and future of robots and their effects on our lives.

0:58:020:58:06

Go to the address on screen

0:58:060:58:07

and follow the links to the Open University.

0:58:070:58:09

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