Robot Holding a Pizza

Can a Robot Become a Pizza Chef?

Tracking the accomplishments of RoDyMan in a valiant attempt to make a pizza.
A leaf dotted with water droplets

Editors’ Picks 2018: Sustainability and the Environment

Wildfires in California, floods in Venice, robot-bees, and cows that mitigate climate change.
The Knightscope K5 Security Robot

Do Security Robots Signal the Death of Public Space?

A security robot targets the homeless, raising questions about whether private companies can expand their security detail to public spaces like sidewalks.
Sweeper machine in a greenhouse of fruit trees

Do We Really Need Robot Farmers?

As weather heats up and climate change progresses, fieldwork will grow more hazardous.
Bee on Lilly

The Race to Build a Better Bee

Could drone pollinators help secure our future food supply?
Mechanical Turk

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk has Reinvented Research

Online services like Amazon's "Mechanical Turk" have ushered in a golden age in survey research. But is it ethical for researchers to use them?
BLADE RUNNER 2049

Do We Have Moral Obligations to Robots?

The recent film Blade Runner 2049 engages with questions raised by Karel Čapek and Isaac Asimov: What do we owe our creations (and what do they owe us)?
Tokyo commuters

Japan’s Solution to Loneliness: Virtual Wives

Japan has always been at the forefront of technological advancement. With a lonely and over-taxed workforce, the country has now introduced the robot wife.
flooded houston hurricane harvey impact

Natural and Man-Made Disasters, from Atom Weather to Fire Ants

Mother Nature’s wrath can be unpredictable and random, but history shows that humankind is ultimately responsible for many "natural disasters."
Robot doctor

Will Robots Replace Human Doctors?

What do advances in AI, VR, and robotics mean for doctors? In the case of medicine, perhaps it's better to ask what technology can't do.