Ideas change everything

Robots

As machines grow ever more intelligent, they're emerging not just as powerful tools, but close companions. These TED Talks offer both whizzy demos and serious ideas on our evolving relationship with robots.

Video playlists about Robots

The Butterfly Effect: Talks from the TEDinArabic Summit

In March 2023, 17 speakers from across the world gathered in Doha for the inaugural TEDinArabic Summit. From climate change and politics to sports and fashion, enjoy this sweeping selection of talks.

What happens when the robots take our jobs?

To lose our jobs to our future supreme AI overlords ... or to not? That's the question (and we have some surprising answers).

Wacky, weird art made by AI

Welcome to the new frontier in art and creativity -- and it's not human.

What can robots teach us about being human?

Robots reflect their creators: Us. Counterintuitive and insightful, these robots show us glimmers into what it means to be human.

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Talks about Robots

Jena Friedman

The jokes AI won’t tell

Joshua Schachter

How I turned frustration into creative success

Palmer Luckey

The AI arsenal that could stop World War III

Bernt Børnich

Meet NEO, your robot butler in training

Catie Cuan

Next up for AI? Dancing robots

Alex Luebke, Vivek Kumbhari

How you could see inside your body — with a micro-robot

Fei-Fei Li

With spatial intelligence, AI will understand the real world

Ken Goldberg

Why don't we have better robots yet?

Agnieszka Pilat

An AI artist's take on tech and legacy

Jim Fan

The next grand challenge for AI

Tara Boroushaki

Could AI give you X-ray vision?

Nanshu Lu

E-skins and e-tattoos: Your cybernetic future

Eileen Isagon Skyers

In the age of AI art, what can originality look like?

Katherine James

How agri-robotics will change the food you eat

Dennis Hong

7 new species of robot that jump, dance — and walk on water

Robert Katzschmann

The future of machines that move like animals

See all talks on Robots

Exclusive articles about Robots

This amazing robot swims like an eel AND detects pollution

Inspired by one of nature’s most efficient swimmers, bio-roboticist Auke Ijspeert and his team are building a sinuous robot that can venture into toxic waters.

Posted Feb 2018

Are you ready for the impending age of robots?

Economist Robin Hanson thinks the era of ems -- robots with artificial copies of human brains -- could occur in the next century. Read his astonishing predictions … and prepare for your jaw to drop.

Posted Apr 2017

How the gains we make in AI could ultimately destroy us

Neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris describes a scenario that is both terrifying and likely to occur. It’s not, he says, a good combination.

Posted Oct 2016