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It’s easy to get obsessed with technology – it is the key enabler of today’s revolution – but the harder part of the transformation is cultural.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) recently released a new set of standards for the ethical design of robots and robotic devices. The standards highlight the growing need for guidelines on robotic safety, contact with human beings, robotic deception, addiction and possible sexism or racism exhibited by self-learning artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Here, Graham Mackrell, managing director of robotic gearing specialist Harmonic Drive UK, explains the three things industry can take away from the new standard.

For many years robots have been an indispensable part of industrial production. Over the next three years 1.3 million additional production robots will enter service. How far has research in robotics and artificial intelligence come? In what direction is development going? Will robots replace humans one day? A conversation with Frank Kirchner, Head of Research Department of the Robotics Innovation Center at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence in Karlsruhe, on the state of things.