First Ever TED Talk Delivered By a Robot - And His Name is Bob

Speaking before a human audience at a TEDx event in Bristol, England, a robot named Bob delivers the first ever TED Talk by an android…. Okay, so the robot isn’t really giving the speech, let alone controlling its physical movements. All of that was done by his human master, whom was controlling Bob on stage.

The goal was to help challenge the human audience to see Bob as something more than a mere robot; rather something of which can be loved and understood at a human level. Subsequently, the talk helped provide a glimpse of the future where humans begin uploading themselves into artificial avatar bodies, wherever and whenever.

What this will entail for future speakers at a TED Talk event is unclear, but it’s really fun to think about. It would appear that Bob the Robot took one step further than Edward Snowden who delivered a talk last year using a telepresence robot.

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

While the performance was hardly complicated, given the range of technologies available to us today to remotely control a robot’s bodily movements, it certainly paints a vivid picture as to what the future might hold for all of us. Imagine having the capability of accessing your own personal artificial avatar body, wherever and whenever you want. The implications this will have on the international airline industry is unknown, but it’ll surely take a huge hit as a result. After all, why risk your life flying to another country (or even to another planet!) when instead you can upload yourself into an artificial avatar body that is located in the area you wish to visit?

Photo Credit: RT UK