The Documentary: The Robots Story

WORLD SERVICE, 1.30PM

It’s tempting to imagine that the days of humans and robots living seamlessly together are still science fiction, but, as this documentary explores, robots are already a big part of our daily lives. Jane Wakefield sees robots being employed in hospitals, hotels and bars, before visiting a sex robot factory to discover how lifelike human dolls are being given artificial intelligence. This raises all kinds of ethical questions raised as a result. She asks, pertinently, why we are so eager to imbue machines with human personalities?