Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy

From drones to Mars rovers—an exploration of the most innovative use of robots today and a provocative argument for the crucial role of humans in our increasingly technological future. Take a look at the cutting edge of robotics today, debunking commonly held myths and exploring rapidly changing relationships between humans and machines. Explore extreme environments —high atmosphere, deep ocean, and outer space—to reveal where the most advanced robotics already exist. Clarifying misconceptions about the autonomous robot, offering instead a hopeful message about what he calls “rich human presence” at the center of the technological landscape we are now creating.

Speaker Details

The Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He has twenty-five years of experience as an engineer in the field of undersea robotic exploration, as a veteran of more than thirty oceanographic expeditions, and more recently as an airplane pilot and engineer of autonomous aircraft. He is the award-winning author of Iron Coffin: War Technology and Experience Aboard the USS Monitor and Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight.

Date:
Speakers:
David Mindell
Affiliation:
MIT

    • Portrait of Jeff Running

      Jeff Running