Original subtitles

Intelligent machines designed to improve human life, deadly mechanical

soldiers in our skies and on the front lines, and sophisticated

robots invented centuries before modern technology.

Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has been fascinated.

with the idea of creating mechanical servants to help with our workload,

amusement, even to protect us.

And today, what was once fiction is becoming fact as scientists and

successfully design and create all types of intelligent robots that can do just

about anything.

But what will our future look like as AI and...

technology advance are we perhaps on the on the precipice of a robot revolution

and if so will our clever creations save humanity or destroy

it well that is what we'll try and find out

New York City, April 30th, 1939.

Nearly 1 ,500 international exhibitors gather for the New York World's Fair.

Throngs of people watch in amazement to see a futuristic innovation from the

Westinghouse Corporation that garners significant attention.

It's a seven -foot -tall humanoid robot named Electro.

And here he comes, ladies and gentlemen, walking up to greet you under his own

power.

In 1939, the company Westinghouse, which made a lot of electrical appliances,

debuted their robot, Electro, and then later on introduced his pet

dog, Sparko.

The dog could go into a begging position, it could bark, it could sit on

command.

So this guy looked like a classic robot, like you would see in the old movies.

Ladies and gentlemen.

He could speak, he could smoke, he could respond to questions.

And folks, he's only two years old, too. Just learning.

And people loved it. People loved the idea that this was the future.

The reality is a human being was required to operate Electro and Sparko.

But their impressive debut in 1939 presented the possibility of a future

programmable intelligent machines, or robots, would live side by side with

humans to enhance our lives.

Well, that future is now.

I'm not sure people understand how prevalent robots are in our world right

You know, more than 4 million operational robots in the world.

And that's just the industrial robot.

People are aware and not surprised to see some sort of robot helper in

an airport or in a kitchen or in a convention centre or

in a hotel reception.

Has science and technology surpassed the futuristic vision?

of robotics from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s?

Well, the fact is, smart machines have firmly integrated into every aspect

of our lives for quite some time.

Programmable tools perform precision surgeries, self -driving taxis shuttle

people around, and automated computers help grow our food.

Entertain us.

and even clean our homes.

The promise of robots is a workforce that would replace ours,

a workforce that would take on the tasks that humans, frankly, should not be

doing, tasks that are too dangerous.

A robot could be put in harm's way.

It could handle dangerous chemicals.

or going to dangerous construction places, where we know there's a higher

of humans being hurt.

The creation of a technology that can improve the quality of human life is an

extraordinary feat.

But what happens when our mechanical helpers start to look like us?

We're starting to see the rise, the significant rise.

of the humanoid robot, things that look like what you might expect out of sci

-fi films.

These machines are starting to be able to evaluate for themselves and think for

themselves.

And it is the world of artificial intelligence and robotics that we're

into. And that is a significant change, and it's happening right now.

Countries like China and the United States have...

incredible programs for mass production of humanoid robots.

Recently, Elon Musk has announced the introduction of humanoid

robots. The model is called Optimus. He expects by 2026 to

be able to commercially sell these machines for about $20 ,000.

China, on the other hand, their target is that by the end of 2025 to have 500

humanoid robot for every 10 ,000 human workers.

Just how close are we to having humanoid robotic helpers in our homes?

Recently, a company called Clone Robotics showcased a highly advanced

equipped with synthetic muscles that mimics human movement almost perfectly.

As robots develop a lifelike appearance, how far will biological humans

go to integrate?

these mechanical creations, into their everyday lives.

Kodaiji Temple, Kyoto, Japan.

This 400 -year -old Zen Buddhist shrine would appear to be disconnected from the

modern world.

But inside this serene sanctum, followers listen intently to the sermons

of a thoroughly futuristic monk, a 132 -pound, 6 -foot -4 -inch

robotic priest known as Mindar.

Mindar, this synthetic humanoid robot, is located in the main

hall of the temple, and when people enter, they can hear 25 -minute -long

sermons on the meaning of emptiness.

the meaning of compassion, which are cardinal virtues in Buddhism.

The fact that it is in the shape of a robot doesn't seem to take away from its

impact. In fact, it might even increase it, especially with young worshippers.

For some people, listening to a robot repeat a prayer is a way of engaging

their spirituality.

So for a lot of religious organizations, this is just a different way of

reaching the masses.

In the Catholic Church, there has been developed a Roman Catholic robot saint

called Santo.

It stands about 17 inches high.

The faithful are able to talk to Santo, and it answers their theological

questions, and it also responds to their prayers.

Now, the Roman Catholic faithful have actually quite taken to it.

The march of the religious robots seems unstoppable.

It's remarkable that robots have started to guide humanity in our own search for

meaning. But as our mechanical servants become more advanced every year, many

experts wonder, are we creating a race of intelligent beings that could one day

control us?

It's a new age of robotics that we're going to have to navigate and get used

being in.

And it's so early trying to work out whether those fears are founded or not

whether it should be a time of optimism.

Who knows? I mean, that's the thing. You could make arguments both ways.

And if you ask experts, some are very scared by the prospect and some are

enthusiastic and optimistic about the prospect.

Robots will become more and more ubiquitous and you'll get to a point

they're commonplace.

So here we are at a precipice where, within the next couple of decades,

going to be more robots than humans.

How many of those robots will be right in front of us, talking with us,

interacting with us, replicating human behavior?

What is the future between man and machine?

All we can really do is speculate.

But some believe that clues to mankind's future relationship with robots

They'd actually be found in the ancient past.

Because our fascination with these mechanical servants may have started

thousands of years ago.

Vientiane, Laos.

Just outside the city, there is a remarkable statue garden on the banks of

Mekong River.

It contains over 200 ornate and often bizarre statues.

meant to represent characters spoken of in Hindu and Buddhist lore.

It's a place known as Xianquan, or Buddha Park.

Xianquan was crafted in the 1950s by a visionary.

He was a priest, a shaman.

He was deeply immersed in Buddhist as well as Hindu theology. So he filled

park with all of these sculptures of fantastical creatures, mythological

entities. some of which have a technological sort of aesthetic.

So their faces look robotic.

They have like big robotic eyes and sort of robotic head.

In Buddhist lore, there are a number of stories about robot guardians.

One of the most famous stories talks about a king who wanted to protect a

treasure that he had, and this treasure was the relics of the Buddha.

And so he built a robot army.

that had spinning blades and would cut down any intruder or any would -be

I mean, Buddhism is a 2 ,500 -year -old religion, but it had descriptions of

what can only be defined as robots.

So what are we to make of this story?

The strange statues at Buddha Park raise a fascinating question.

Are the mechanical guardians found in ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts?

Descriptions of what we would call robots?

Well, it may sound far -fetched.

Robots have appeared in myths and legends all throughout the ancient

There's a very fascinating story recorded in the ancient Chinese work,

Liege, and it tells the tale of a king from the 10th century BC

who had what was called an artificer.

which is a mechanical engineer, essentially, who ended up creating what

the time a perfect lifelike robot.

This artificer by the name of Yanshur came and presented it to the court, and

completely fooled everyone.

The robot could sing on cue. It could dance and keep time.

And then towards the end of its performance, the robot started winking

king's concubines. And the king obviously was rather displeased by this.

And he was about to execute this artificer.

So in a bid to save his life, Yen -Sher opened up his automaton to show the king

that it was not a real person.

It's just a robot.

Stories of robot -like creations can also be found in ancient Greece, where

giant programmable machines were called automatons.

Automaton comes from the Greek term automatos, which is made up of auto,

means self, and matos, which means thinking or willing. So together, the

translates as self -thinking or self -willing.

And it refers to any device that plays out a mechanical sequence

that has been programmed for it.

They seem to be describing a robot.

Akamata were written about in ancient Greek epic poetry like the Iliad, like

Odyssey, and other historical works.

Things like gigantic moving statues that might also be fountains that would

dispense wine or milk, for example.

And there were these wheeled cauldrons which were like cupbearers, wine

servants. They would scurry around and serve the gods on Mount Olympus.

So it's really interesting to think about whether or not these objects that

written about, if they actually were made or if they're sort of a version of

fantasy or science fiction.

Are automatons simply creations of the imagination, or could there be a

possibility that they once walked the Earth?

Some believe a clue can be found by examining an ancient Greek work called

Argonautica from the 3rd century BC.

It describes a giant mechanical man known as Thanos.

One of the most terrifying creations of the Greek god, was this massive bronze

automaton called Talos.

It operates completely as a robot, as we'd understand it.

And Talos was programmed to walk around the island of Crete three times a day,

protecting it from pirates and invaders.

Talos would throw massive boulders at the ship and sink them.

or Talos could even heat himself up and burn his enemies to death.

Talos was given life and his power came from this ichor, as it's called, the

blood of God, and it coursed through his body through a series of channels.

and there was one spot in the body that you could take out this ichor substance,

and that was basically secured by a bolt in its ankle.

So the parallels between Talos and what we could see as more modern robots are

very striking, especially if you replace this notion of the ichor with engine

oil, something of that nature, a lubricant. Then you have pretty much a

description of what a metallic robot would look like.

So we have to wonder if the Greeks were actually basing these stories on actual

robots that existed, because it seems they had some knowledge of the

They could speak about it in this way.

While these Greek tales seem to illustrate an understanding of robotics,

physical evidence of automatons has ever been found.

But a remarkable 20th century discovery may provide some clues as to what these

mythological engineering marvels might have actually looked like.

Cabras, Sardinia, March 1974.

Two local farmers make an astounding archaeological find when they

uncover statues created by the mysterious, long -extinct Neurogic

On the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, there is a site called

Prama that has the remnants of a very old civilization dated between about 3

,000 and 4 ,000 years ago.

And amongst these remnants, we have found these giant figures that look like

robots.

What's so striking about these statues is the heads.

They've got these concentric circles for eyes.

They've got these little mouths, and then the shape of the head are like your

classic 1950s sci -fi robot.

It really is a bit of a brain teaser to try and figure out why did ancient

civilization sculpt what looked to us like robots?

What was going on in their heads to create these robot -like images? I mean,

may never know.

Is it possible that many ancient myths and legends of mechanical men, were

on the real -life existence of robots.

While we can't say for sure, we do know that some of the most sophisticated

advances in modern robotics were actually first developed centuries ago.

Mars, June 10th, 2018.

Nearly 15 years into a mission to search the red gland for water,

Opportunity, NASA's robotic rover, equipped with enhanced artificial

intelligence, is about to conclude its journey when a planet -wide dust storm

makes it impossible for the robot to recharge its solar -powered batteries.

With its power nearly gone, Opportunity transmits a stunning image of its

location back to Earth.

along with an unexpectedly disturbing message before it shuts off.

The robot rover Opportunity became known as Oppy as it became more popular.

And it was a very heart -rending moment when it sent one last poignant message.

Some people thought it reads as my battery is running low and it's getting

And then that was the end.

of oppie and this triggered the wave of grief around the

world from people who were distraught to hear the last words of oppie the rover

robot on the surface of mars it was much more than just a simple robot

moving through any given environment it was on a planet all by itself it was

entirely alone and because it carried all of us With it, the Mars rover

Opportunity allowed us to project our emotions and our hopes into it.

It became an extension of us.

It all felt like a part of us was lost when it turned off.

The Opportunity rover was only supposed to be operational for 90 days on the

surface of Mars.

But remarkably, it was functional for almost 15 years.

But Oppy's incredible success on the Red Planet allowed scientists to study a

place where no human could go and firmly secured the role of robots in the

future of space exploration.

Robots come into their own when you're talking about hazardous environments.

there pretty much isn't a more hazardous environment than space.

It is instant death for any human if anything goes wrong, however slight.

And so if you can operate in that environment in a robotic way, then the

benefits are clear and obvious.

In the 50 years since the lunar landings, other than the International

Station and Earth orbit with the space shuttle,

The only other things we've done have all been with robots, with these

spacecraft. Now, robots have a lot of advantages.

They're pretty smart, and they're getting smarter all the time.

You don't have to worry about hurting them. If something goes wrong, you build

another robot. It's not a big deal.

So it's a huge advantage.

Since robots can be built to withstand the deadly environments of alien worlds,

it's fascinating to wonder what the automated astronauts of the future will

like.

Well, it appears they'll look a lot like us.

Mark Rossheim is a true pioneer in the world of robotics.

He holds over 30 patents in robot technology.

And some of his most cutting -edge work was on a remarkable machine known as

Robonaut.

In 2011, Robonaut was deployed on the International Space Station.

and became the first humanoid robot in outer space.

The goal for our humanoid work for NASA was to give the astronauts a capability

to send this thing out into a hazardous environment and manipulate objects as

if it was an astronaut without a spacesuit. So you would have full

hand and full movement of the arms and so forth.

to give greater flexibility to the shoulders, the spine, the wrists and

and thumbs. That was our goal.

And those were the early generations, and now we're on to the fourth

And they're doing some very amazing things.

Might a crew of humanoid robots one day explore distant worlds that are beyond

our reach?

It will be a thrilling achievement, especially when you consider that many

the key innovations utilized in Robin Hood were actually first invented over

years ago in 1495 by one of the most influential geniuses in human history,

Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci is really one of the first, at least in what we now call

Western culture, to be credited with making robots that might move like

One of the things that Leonardo designed was a mechanical knight that looked a

lot like a person.

It could move its head, it could open its mouth, and it could move for several

yards before it essentially wound down.

Leonardo was very famous for his ability to use cables and pulleys, and he

obviously applied that to this robot.

It could move its arms. It could stand up, sit down.

I became interested in Leonardo and how could I use his studies to make

dexterous robots.

In this drawing of Leonardo's robot knight, these are his napkin sketches,

is what we have now, his preliminary sketches.

The final drawings have been missing for hundreds of years.

We see the articulated shoulder joint.

We see the cable system to drive the arm. And that's what you need to do to

reproduce human motion is first know what human motion is.

And Leonardo, through his use of anatomy, derived his design for the

knight.

So building on that foundation, I took Leonardo's famous Vitruvian man

and I put in robot joints.

It's fascinating to think that 15th century designs helped create an

humanoid robot that just might be the future of space exploration.

And it naturally makes you wonder, what other incredible designs might we

rediscover that have been lost, and how they might continue to shape the future

of robots?

It fascinates me that someone...

500 years ago, could be thinking along these same lines, working on the same

problem, being concerned about articulation, power sources, and so

And so I hope that someday we recover more of Leonardo's material.

There is evidence of higher levels of sophistication of all of his designs.

And hopefully now that the world is aware of these things, in some archives

somewhere, we will learn more about his influence on...

humanoid robot designs.

The fact that modern robots are being built based on mechanical designs that

centuries old is simply astonishing.

But as advancements in technology continue to push the envelope, many

are worried that we may be creating the means to our own destruction.

Should mankind fear the rise of a robot army?

Moscow, Russia, 2017.

The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, an agency dedicated

the development of new military technology, presumably released footage

truly threatening robot named Fedor.

The Russians had developed a robot called Fedor that everybody knew about.

was to be used in emergency recovery situations.

and on space stations.

But then in 2017, the Russians showed that they'd adapted Fedor to basically

use automatic weapons.

You had Fedor with guns on a shooting range, firing at targets.

And of course, this alarmed people all over the world, because if Fedor takes

the battlefield, well, who knows what could happen.

Are we on the brink of creating an army of robots?

While weaponized mechanical foot soldiers may be a futuristic addition to

operations, what other deadly thinking machines might be included

in a military arsenal?

When you think of robot armies, we often envision physical humanoid robots that

are attacking people.

But what does a robot army look like?

It's not going to necessarily be a field of conventional robot soldiers.

The augmentation of a robot dog makes it into a weapon.

Right now we're at the point where drones can assess the battlefield, find

target, and execute on that target without human intervention.

The technology is progressing so fast that there's no question that in a very

short period of time,

The future of warfare is going to be automated and robotic.

Everything will be fought by drones and some type of machines.

And the AI will get better and better.

One of the main benefits of robots in warfare is the elimination

of humans from the battlefield.

You don't have to pay robots.

They don't sleep. They don't eat.

You don't have to deal with troops dying on the battlefield.

Do you really want to put humans in harm's way when you can put machines in

that scenario and evade the loss of life?

While there are clear advantages to utilizing robots in warfare, many wonder

these intelligent machines...

will soon render human beings obsolete on the battlefield.

But what would happen if we completely take the human element out of combat?

Could robots be programmed to decide who lives and who dies?

We are creating machinery and software that potentially has the idea to think

for itself and develop its own sort of ideas.

How do you teach robots to actually operate in a moral way in the

theater of war?

How do you code that?

How do you put it into the machine?

One suggestion is to build in a conscience, to build in morality to the

programming.

But if you do that, maybe the weapon doesn't want to be a weapon.

And then maybe the weapon realizes...

That humans are the problem.

If AI is designed to solve problems, and it solves them on its own, eventually

it's going to come to the conclusion that the biggest problem it has is us.

Could weaponized robots that are designed to follow human orders outsmart

day?

What would happen if our massive automated arsenal learned to communicate

one another?

It's a nightmarish scenario that some experts call the hive mind.

The hive mind is essentially an army of AI robots, all coordinated, working

together as a single organism.

And this is a very effective tactic.

You can have one part of your hive mind observing the battlefield.

One other part is selecting targets.

Another part is defending the perimeter.

But the hive mind also could discover its own consciousness

and then does not have to follow orders at all.

And when the hive mind reaches the point that it wants to eliminate the human

race, we're not going to know it's happening.

Should we be worried about intelligent?

weaponized robots that could one day turn on their creators?

While that's a worthy concern, there are some who believe that a future robot

revolution will mean something entirely different.

Because there's a growing trend where people are choosing to become part human

and part robot.

Toronto, Canada.

Among the city's 7 million people, there is one man that, quite literally, sees

the world unlike anyone else.

Steve Mann, a celebrated inventor and a tenured professor at the University of

Toronto, is called the father of wearable computing.

For decades, he has had one of his own remarkable machines permanently affixed

to his hand.

It's called the iTap.

So this iTap's a wearable computer, and they had it more or less permanently

attached.

I've been called so many times the world's first cyborg by the media.

Cyborg is short for cybernetic organism.

And so the idea of this is technology that connects us to the natural world

around us and enhances and strengthens and extends our reality rather than

disconnects us from it.

In other words, to blur the distinction between human and machine.

How close are we to becoming more machine than man?

While the future is unclear, many believe that upgrading the human body

robotics provides tantalizing advantages.

In the case of the iTap, it grants Steve abilities beyond what a human being is

capable of.

The iTap is a device that extends our reality.

What I see is superimposed over my vision.

I can see a little dashboard of what's happening inside my body, my heart.

ECG, electrocardiogram, superimposed over what's happening around me.

It allows me to see into the infrared, to be able to see ultraviolet, to be

to see radio waves, to see sound waves.

I can see in complete darkness.

I can focus down to one centimeter away, really clearly, look far away and see

things clearly.

So like an eyeglass prescription that adapts itself interactively.

I can move my head as a way of controlling it. I can talk to it. I can

where's the nearest grocery store?

You know, when I was growing up, I used to build robots. And I thought, okay,

robots are going to take over the world and everything, and these machines are

going to be smart. But then I started thinking, well, you know what? What we

really want is to sort of become the machine, not be replaced by the machine.

The best way to understand something is to become it. And so in the future, we

are going to become the technology.

Will Steve Mann's vision of the future be available to us sooner than we think?

Perhaps.

Wearable computers like smart glasses have already hit the mainstream.

There are bionic limbs, powered by artificial intelligence, and even

exoskeletons that can grant superhuman strength and speed.

Are we witnessing the next stage of human evolution?

augmentation of the human body is very possible the idea that that augmentation

alone would create the superhuman capacity it's really about the

the human mind it used to be that no one would have a smartphone but

now these things are seen in such commonplace that to not have one you're

actually in the minority technology and robots will be another prompt for humans

to define themselves.

Just how far will human beings go to augment and enhance themselves with

robotics?

Well, many believe that smart machines will not only be connected to the

of our anatomy, but inside as well, in one of the most delicate and vital

parts of the body, inside the brain.

It's a technology called Neuralink.

Neuralink is a little coin -sized implant, and it gets embedded into the

person's brain, and from that, there's a bunch of little threads that come out.

And on each thread, there's a bunch of electrodes, and those embed into the

brain, and they pick up signals.

And the idea is that this would give somebody who is paralyzed the ability to

communicate, so they can...

move a cursor around a computer, that sort of thing.

In 2024, a Neuralink device was successfully implanted into Nolan

is paralyzed from the neck down.

Now, he has the ability to control a computer with his mind.

So if technology can allow us to control a device with a mere thought, it's

incredible to imagine.

What's next?

This idea of bridging that gap between technology and the human brain would

lead to possibly speechless communication, brain -to -brain

Communicating with other people with such devices without any sound, just

thinking to them. What you would look at and think would be telepathy.

There is this idea that these implants might be able to connect us to some sort

of programmable intelligence.

So you could just upload a skill like... the ability to just have you know kung

fu or french uploaded to their brains or something like that a lot of people

completely believe that we are humans 1 .0 and that we're going to start adding

body parts one of the things that's interesting in thinking about it is what

the limits of the human and are there particular capabilities that humans

should not have

It's what new kinds of people might we have.

Are we augmenting our abilities to the extent that we become something that is

no longer defined as human?

The National Robotarium, Edinburgh, Scotland.

This sleek, modern building is one of the world's leading centers for

And inside...

Interacting with guests is one of the most advanced human -like robots on

It's a grey -skinned, 6 -foot -1 -inch, 108 -pound machine known as

Amica. The Amica robot is mimicking humans as closely as possible.

Amica is capable of reproducing more sort of human physiological movements

tics. and recognising facial expressions more than any other robot so far.

But funnily enough, there is no need in many situations to have a robot in

humanoid form.

In many situations, in fact the vast majority of situations, it would not be

most efficient form to do particular tasks, repetitive tasks and so on. And

we're obsessed with creating humanoid robots.

and robots that can look like us and be us in a way.

Today, companies around the world are focused on designing and producing

lifelike humanoid robots.

So what's really behind this obsession to make smart machines in our own image?

As humans, we are very preoccupied with the question of what makes us alive.

And I think that building...

object or fantasizing about objects that can do the things that people do, that

can look the way that people look, is a way of thinking through those boundaries

between what is alive and what is not alive.

As we get to the point where you can no longer distinguish between a robot and a

human being, should they be allowed to be out on their own and express their

needs and wants?

determine their own future, take what jobs they feel they deserve?

Or are they forever under the ownership of humans?

It's a new state of recognizing entities that does not label them as human or

non -human.

A lot of robot ethicists are actually pushing for robotic citizenship and

android rights.

So this opens up questions.

Are these things going to have rights?

Are they going to have more rights than some people?

And so the technology is coming out much faster than the laws and then the

ethics and the philosophies can really keep up with at the moment.

Could there come a day when robots live among us as part of human society?

And might these smart machines of our making continue to evolve to the point

that they become not just our equals, but our superiors?

So right now, robot.

are unaware that they're robots.

What happens when they become aware?

There will be a point where the machines will have a degree of sentience.

They will know what they are and why they're here and what their reason for

being is actually.

And we need to prepare ourselves as a society for that point.

It's remarkable to think that one day soon, It may be hard to tell the

difference between a human and a robot.

But while it's clear that these intelligent machines can make many tasks

how much trust should we put in our cutting -edge creations?

Will we be able to control the robots we construct, or will they decide one

day that humans are no longer necessary?

It's a chilling scenario that fortunately now remains

unexplained.