Will Robots Ever Be Truly Self-Aware?

A roboticist who works in the areas of artificial intelligence and digital manufacturing, Hod Lipson designs biologically inspired machines—and he sees a future where robots are not only autonomous but creative. He and his colleagues build robots that do what you’d least expect robots to do: Self replicate, self-reflect, ask questions, and even come up with their own ideas.

At the next Secret Science Club, Hod Lipson asks: Can robots ultimately design and make other robots? Can machines be curious? Will robots ever be truly self-aware? Can they evolve? Dream?

Hod Lipson is a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University. His work on robots and bio-printing has received widespread media coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, and on CNN and NPR. He has co-authored over 200 technical papers, the recent book Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing, and the forthcoming book Driverless: Intelligent Cars and the Road Ahead..