Dr Nanayakkara interviewed by Sky News

In a report discussing the increasing presence of robots in our daily lives, Sky News interviewed Dr. Thrishantha Nanayakkara, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Informatics, about his views on robots.

Thrish discussed the notion of the “uncanny valley” that people can experience when facing robots. This is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when human-like robots look and act almost like actual human beings, but their subtle imperfections cause a response of discontent or even revulsion from human observers. He also discussed the possibility of robots helping us to learn more about humans in some areas; for example the difficulties that robots face in walking may shed some light on how humans perform this skill so well.

Dr Nanayakkara is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Robotics Research, part of the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. His research interests include human-robot interaction, human bimanual motor learning and control and robotic interaction with uncertain environments.

The interview with Sky News is available to view on YouTube. Thrish also recently recorded some videos for Askimo TV, an educational online channel.

 

For further questions, please contact Dr Nanayakkara (thrish.antha@kcl.ac.uk).