• Question: is it fun to research and make robots

    Asked by Nitrozz25 to Huma on 5 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Huma Shah

      Huma Shah answered on 5 Nov 2016:


      Hello 469pnug25 !

      Yes it really is a lot of fun to research this area. I’ve just co-written and submitted a new paper to an academic journal: ‘Not born of woman: gendered robots’. This article follows on from a panel discussion at a conference in Rome earlier this year where we discussed in which cases robots should have a male or a female body, please see this link:
      http://www.icaart.org/panel.aspx?y=2016#2

      Additionally, I collaborated on the EU-funded RoboLaw project, it concluded with a report ‘Guidelines for Regulating Robotics’, you can download and read the report here:
      http://www.robolaw.eu/

      I should clarify, I don’t yet get involved in the physical building of a robot, because my area is more about the brain of a robot and specifically ‘natural language’ – why do robots in the movies talk like humans, why don’t we have those talking robots yet? My research is based on Alan Turing’s ideas, I have co-written a new book ‘Turing’s Imitation Game: Conversations with the Unknown’, published by Cambridge University Press, September 2016 – but you don’t need to buy it! You can read my PhD thesis for free, ‘Deception-detection and machine intelligence in practical Turing tests’, it is available for download from here:
      https://www.academia.edu/415888/Deception-detection_and_machine_intelligence_in_practical_Turing_tests

      The fun includes opportunities like this exciting activity, to answer interesting school pupils’ questions and explain your work. Also I get the chance to meet and work with very interesting people from all over the world, and I visit fantastic places – I’m going to Moscow next week to give a talk on Artificial Intelligence:
      http://sk.ru/foundation/events/november2016/ai/

      Apologies for the long answer, hope it’s helpful, it not please do ask another.

      Huma

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