Topic description and stories

“Robots can go all the way to Mars, but they can’t pick up the groceries”

18 Dec 2018

In the popular imagination, robots have been portrayed alternatively as friendly companions or existential threat. But while robots are becoming...

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Humans need not apply

05 Jul 2018

Will automation, AI and robotics mean a jobless future, or will their productivity free us to innovate and explore? Is the impact of new technologies...

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Toothpaste

AI 'scientist' finds that toothpaste ingredient may help fight drug-resistant malaria

18 Jan 2018

An ingredient commonly found in toothpaste could be employed as an anti-malarial drug against strains of malaria parasite that have grown resistant...

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Deckard

Opinion: Could we build a Blade Runner-style 'replicant'?

05 Oct 2017

Could replicants ever be a reality? In this article from The Conversation , Fumiya Iida (Department of Engineering) discusses what it would take to...

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Science fiction vs science fact: World’s leading AI experts come to Cambridge

10 Jul 2017

Some of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will gather in Cambridge this week to look at...

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robot hand

Opinion: We could soon face a robot crimewave … the law needs to be ready

16 Apr 2017

Are robots capable of committing crime? Yes, says Christopher Markou, PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, writing for The Conversation - but what...

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Opinion: Robots and AI could soon have feelings, hopes and rights … we must prepare for the reckoning

28 Feb 2017

Is artificial intelligence a benign and liberating influence on our lives – or should we fear an impending rise of the machines? And what rights...

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Still from Pain in the Machine

Pain in the machine: a Cambridge Shorts film

02 Nov 2016

The pain we experience as humans has physical and emotional components. Could we develop a machine that feels pain a similar way – and would we want...

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World travel and communications recorded on Twitter

Talkin' 'bout a revolution: how to make the digital world work for us

03 Oct 2016

The digital revolution is one of the great social transformations of our time. How can we make the most of it, and also minimise and manage its risks...

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Expanding polymer-coated gold nanoparticles

Little ANTs: researchers build the world’s tiniest engine

02 May 2016

Researchers have built a nano-engine that could form the basis for future applications in nano-robotics, including robots small enough to enter...

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SegNet demonstration

Teaching machines to see: new smartphone-based system could accelerate development of driverless cars

21 Dec 2015

Two technologies which use deep learning techniques to help machines to see and recognise their location and surroundings could be used for the...

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Rise and evolution of the Daleks

Opinion: How we built a robot that can evolve – and why it won’t take over the world

18 Dec 2015

Fumiya Iida (Department of Engineering) discusses the "mother" robot he has built with his colleagues, and why reacting to developments in robotics...

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