rADIO: ROBOTS THAT CARE | PIONEERS | THE HANDS OF THE COMPOSER

Fans of classic science fiction will be acquainted with the Three Laws of Robotics, as coined by author Isaac Asimov. In general terms, they prevented robots from ever harming their human masters and creators or disobeying them. They could protect their own existences – as long as doing so didn’t bring them into conflict with the first two laws.

Asimov’s ideas, first published in the 1940s, are among the concepts explored in robots that care, when Jon Stewart investigates how today’s scientists are trying to bridge the human-robot interface. In this first of a two-part series, he reports on the latest developments in robotics which seem, increasingly, to be leading towards genuine one-to-one contact between humans and robots.

Scientists are making giant strides in the rather more down-to-earth realm of prosthetics, as Clare English learns in Radio Scotland’s pioneers featuring bioengineer David Gow, who came up with the world’s first fully articulated bionic hand.

Marvellous though it may be, we’re not sure whether Gow’s bionic hand could knock off a Rachmaninov piano concerto: as it is, the normal human hand can only do so after rigorous training, as Radio 3’s Iain Burnside investigates in the hands of the composer today.

With the help of pianist Stephen Hough, composer Huw Watkins and music critic Bryce Morrison, Burnside looks at how the actual hand physiology of some of the great pianist-composers, such as Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninov, influenced the music they wrote. In certain areas, still, robots just don’t get a look in.

Robots That Care

Monday, Radio 4, 11am

Pioneers

Thursday, Radio Scotland, 2:05pm

The Hands of the Composer

Today, Radio 3, 12:15pm