Interviews

“The idea of the autonomous robot disguises all the human labour behind it”: An Interview with Teresa Heffernan

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An image of Wall-E

Direct video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krZyUV8WErk Lizzie Wright spoke to Professor Teresa Heffernan about the relationship between robot fictions and real-life robots, the films Wall-E and Ex Machina, and the importance of remembering the materiality — and material cost — of technology. This is an edited extract of their conversation. Teresa Heffernan is Professor of English Language … Read more

An Interview with Conor McGinn

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The humanoid robot Stevie raises his arms and smiles

Direct video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7KJbCo7rps Lizzie Wright speaks to designer, inventor and roboticist Dr Conor McGinn, CEO at Akara Robotics. Conor previously worked at NASA and the Robotics and Innovation Lab at Trinity College Dublin. His designs include the award-winning robot Stevie, Ireland’s first socially assistive AI robot.