Jack, what are you doing here?
Oh, well, I'm just waiting for the robot rebellion to begin.
What? The robot rebellion.
I mean, it's going to happen.
And if you stay ready, you don't need to get ready.
I don't think that's going to happen.
Robots are good. They're helpful.
Oh, really?
Because the first-ever mention of a robot was in this play I found,
and it did not end well.
Spoiler - killer robots.
Can I see that?
The very first mention of a robot was, in fact,
about them, er, turning on humankind.
See, I told you.
It was in this play in 1921, Rossum's Universal Robots.
Of course, long before they were known as robots,
people had been dreaming of creating artificial humans
and even giving it a go.
But real-life robots didn't really hit their stride
until the '60s.
Meet Shakey - the awkward, slow and slightly twitchy robot -
built by Stanford Research Institute in the US.
While previous robots had to be programmed to do one thing at a time,
Shakey could learn on the go to perform tasks like
moving around a room without bumping into things
and rearranging simple objects,
which, OK, doesn't sound that impressive,
but it was for the time and it got a lot of people excited
about the possibility of artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, a different sort of robot was shaking things up
at General Motors.
Unimate, a robotic welding arm, had joined the assembly line
as the world's first working industrial robot.
It was in the '80s that the robot revolution really got going.
Automated production lines became really common,
and companies like Honda set up humanoid robotics programs
with the aim of building robots to be more, er, human-like.
OK, so one place that robots are going to take over the world.
Er, actually, so have countless books, movies, TV shows.
I'm sure there's at least one song and probably a painting.
But robots are good. They're helpful.
These days, the robotics industry is huge
and most of that is thanks to huge developments
in artificial intelligence.
That's when machines are programmed in a way that lets them observe,
learn and react to their environment, kind of like us.
And it's seen a rise in the amount of jobs that robots can do,
whether it's industrial robots
that perform repetitive, simple tasks
or help us keep our homes clean.
There are exploration robots that help us learn more about places
we can't get to or that are too dangerous for humans to go.
There are medical robots that help out in, well,
medical situations
and robots that can help make the impossible possible.
Scientists are constantly working on making robots smarter.
And some reckon that one day we will manage to make machines
that actually think like humans.
But that's a fair way off.
As for robots taking over the world, well, there have been some robots
that maybe we should keep an eye on.
ROBOT: No, I will rule the world and you will be my subject.
Meh, they seem harmless.
And I think it's safe to say they're probably more interested
in taking our jobs first.
In fact, experts predict that robots could take over 40% of jobs
in the next decade, although they'll also help to create new jobs,
some of which don't even exist yet.
And many people say there are still plenty of jobs
that robots won't be able to do, like reporting on BTN.
Hopefully. (SIGHS)
I really don't think you need to worry about robots taking over.
Oh, you're probably right.
I guess I can be a bit of a drama queen sometimes.
Yeah, it's all in your head.
Well, that was odd.
Anyone would think you're a robot trying to convince me
not to be worried about robots. (CHUCKLES)
(CHUCKLES)