In Search of the Human Element

(Photograph courtesy of Wayne Lawrence, and used with permission.)

Max Aguilera-Hellweg's new book, Humanoid, is all about robots.

And the themes: what is our connection to them, as humans?  Where are we headed, with robots?  And, what does it mean to be human, anyway?

In Humanoid, Max, who is a physician as well as an award-winning National Geographic photojournalist and filmmaker, incorporates his expertise and a sense of wonder.  He explores not only different types of robots from all over the world, but the ways we interact with them.   You'll find robots designed for defense, health research, and sometimes purely for fun--as is the case with Robocup, whose stated goal is to have a fully-humanoid robotic soccer team win the World Cup by 2050!

(While not currently practicing medicine, Max earned his M.D. in 2004--after becoming fascinated with human anatomy during a series of photo shoots.   He was struck, he says, by the beauty of human anatomy--and you'll see a parallel to his scientific and forensic photographs in the way he's documented his robots in Humanoid.)

Max talked about his background as a photographer, the creation of Humanoid, which is his third book, and some of the experiences he had while photographing and documenting robots for the project.
On this edition of Over Coffee® you'll hear:

How Max was first drawn to photography;

How curiosity led him to become an M.D;

The genesis of the Humanoid project;

The difference between android and humanoid robots (do you know what it is?);

How the social robot, Bina-48, was created;

Max's experiences photographing Bina-48, and a surprising conversation he heard (and recorded!)

His observations about humans' response to the robots;

How the "fun" element entered robot innovation in the academic world;

Some of the considerations as we move into the issues of robots' rights and autonomy.