Robotic musicians in New Zealand

Radio New Zealand National recently broadcast an interview with Prof. Dale Carnegie the head of Victoria Universitys School of Engineering and Computer Science. Amongst other research his group have been collaborating with the School of Music to design and build robotic musicians that play specially designed instruments. The really interesting thing is that these "musicians"  are not limited by human physiology; they can play faster than a person, they can play chords a human hand couldnt physically span and of course they can play longer. You can see a video of a robotic bass performing a cover of Hysteria by Muse. I have some friends who are bass players who will love/hate this!


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Should killer robots be banned

Lethal autonomous weapons systems, or "killer robots" as the public prefer to call them, are almost a reality. In fact in certain cases, such as Israels Iron Dome rocket defence system, they already exist. Should the ability of a robot to identify a target and execute an attack without human intervention be outlawed? Many people believe it should, arguing that a robot can never act morally, whilst others argue that in certain circumstances robots may be less dangerous than frightened, stressed and fatigued soldiers. A week long meeting at the UN in Geneva is currently considering the issue. The UK government has already declared that it opposes an international ban on developing "killer robots" as described in this article in the Guardian. An international coalition of NGOs called the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is lobbying to have a ban established before the technology is upon us. What do you think?

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