Killing machines; Julia Reed believes that while smash-hit Robot Wars is just a bit of high-tech fun, her reports from Japan for Techno Games reveal much more sinister technical possibilities. She told Graham Keal what she's worrying about.

Byline: Graham Keal

Robot Wars presenter Julia Reed is used to seeing whirring, slashing lumps of metal knock holes out of each other, but a trip to Japan for spin-off series Techno Games raised a much more chilling prospect - robots that wage war on their human creators.

Julia, 25, saw around ten different categories of robot during her 21/1 week stay. Some gave her the creeps:

'Japan is the place to go for robotics. It's way beyond anywhere else. I saw everything from the latest robotic toys to a robot that replicates human breathing, plus guard robots, rescue robots, safety robots - all of them were amazing or frightening, but for different reasons.'

Techno Wars is shown daily for two weeks on BBC2 from March 5, with Julia's Japanese reports presenting high-tech inspiration for competitors. Events include a sprint for legged robots, a 25 metre swim, a solar-powered vehicle race, long jump, high jump a robot relay, complete with standard batons, and rocket competitions.

Julia saw the world's only operational guard robot on duty in the Fuji Building in Tokyo: 'It goes around with all these environmental sensors on it. It can detect burglars, or anyone who's there who shouldn't be there and it's terrifying. It looks like a Dalek but it only speaks in Japanese. A lot of the robots I saw were ten years away from commercial production but this one will be in wider operation quite soon.'

Julia has a first class degree in psychology and is clearly intelligent, so I took her fearful reaction with a pinch of salt at first. But the more we spoke the more I realised her fears were genuine.

Some robots were unsettling because of what they or their successors might be capable of. Others were little short of revolting.

'I went to Waseda University, that's kind of the leading robot school, where they've got all sorts of humanoid robot projects for medical research and so on.

'There are robots that replicate human breathing - there's even one that plays the flute - and robots with tongues, teeth and lungs, really scary things like that. There's one that replicates human expressions, a bit like a waxwork. What's terrifying is the thought of them putting all these things together and adding artificial intelligence.'

That prospect is not as distant as it might seem. Julia mentions Sony's I-Do robotic dog, which appears to learn from it's human masters:

'In actual fact the I-Do isn't learning. It's pretending to learn, following a programme. But there's one robot at Waseda that genuinely does learn on its own. It has just two motivations - to live and to communicate. This robot wants to be alive and seeks out human beings so that it can be charged up.'

So did Julia get any reaction to her fears about robots that would eventually start ordering people around, instead of vice versa?

'They don't take much responsibility for that, that's one thing I noticed. It's not going to happen for a long time, so they don't care . . . I met the father of robotics out there and I told him that if robots do take over the world, he would be to blame. He laughed and said, 'Oh, it's OK. I'm like a father, the robot is like a son. He listens to everything I say.' Terrifying!'

Julia isn't usually so easily daunted. She served her TV apprenticeship before taking over her Robot Wars role (from a pregnant Philippa Forrester) on two Sky technology shows, Skyrocket and Gear. The latter allowed her to indulge her taste for extreme sports.

'I love to be active and it gave me a great opportunity to try things like paragliding, dog sledding or flying with the Red Arrows. I've always been sporty and always been into science.'

CAPTION(S):

Battle droids line up to attack the planet Naboo in The Phantom Menace Skeletron will compete in BBC2's new high-tech game show, Techno Games Robots with artificial intelligence such as Doctor Who's Daleks may no longer be simply science fiction

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Publication:	The Birmingham Post (England)
Date:	Mar 5, 2001
Words:	672
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