Happy Mars Day!

I hope we'll see robots landing on Mars tomorrow. I have my boarding pass and will be travelling virtually alongside. Scheduled arrival beginning 11:15am Thursday February 18 2021 with touchdown at 12:55pm PST. After nearly 300 million miles, our Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on Thursday, Feb. 18. To reach the surface of …

Should robots be gendered? Comments on Alan Winfield’s opinion

The gendering of robots is something I've found fascinating since I first started building robots out of legos with my brother. We all ascribe character to robots, consciously or not, even when we understand exactly how robots work. Until recently we've been able to write this off as science fiction stuff, because real robots were …

Why we need a Robot Registry

Robots are rolling out into the real world and we need to meet the emerging challenges in responsible fashion but one that doesn't block innovation. At the recent ARM Developers Summit 2020 I shared my suggestions for five practical steps that we could undertake at a regional, national or global level as part of the …

What is good robot design?

Let’s stop talking about bad robots and start talking about what makes a robot good. A good or ethical robot must be carefully designed. Good robot design is about much more than just the physical robot, and at the same time good robot design is about ‘less’. Less means no extra features, and in robotics …