Revolutions: Robots

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Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

The amazing story of how we made the modern world, told through six fantastic inventions.

In a major new series for BBC Four, Jim Al-Khalili takes a mind-blowing science-led journey through human history to explore the incredible story behind six remarkable inventions.

‘It takes more than one mind to change the world’ - Jim Al-Khalili
In this major new landmark series for BBC Four co-produced by PBS, Jim Al-Khalili explores the extraordinary story of six remarkable inventions: The Aeroplane, The Car, The Rocket, The Smartphone, The Telescope, The Robot. They are familiar, yet hidden within them are thousands of years of thought, struggle, sacrifice, determination and insight.

The series is littered with visionaries. We peer into their original notebooks and sketches, use state of the art experiments, ground breaking drama and CGI to shed new light on the discoveries of well-known icons, like Galilei Galileo and Leonardo Da Vinci; lesser known individuals like female pioneers, Ada Lovelace and Bertha Benz; many, like the medieval scholar, Ibn al-Haytham, most viewers will have never heard of.

Each episode explores little-known stories and is packed with incredible ideas: Like the beginnings of robotics 2,000 years ago or the Hollywood
starlet and inventor who, while trying to defeat the Nazis, made today’s mobile network possible. We see time and again where a completely
chance discovery leads to an application that no-one was expecting.
The result is a mind-blowing science-led journey through human history, full of unintended consequences and incredible connections. It reveals how science, invention and technology build on one another to change everything. Mostly, it celebrates the achievements of the some of the greatest minds in human history.


BBC Four

Jim Al-Khalili

Rod Brooks

Liang Zhipeng

Sydney Padua

Chris Burton

Danielle George

Owen Holland

Jennifer Trosper

Linus Engelberger

Giorgio Matar

Jim Meigs

Sean Smith

Ben Bowie

Iain Riddick

Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World: Series 1: Robots

Factual

Robots

Series 1

BBC Four - Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World, Series 1, Robots

Jim Al-Khalili on the astonishing story of the robot - and will they take over the world?

Jim Al-Khalili explores the fascinating story of the robot, from ancient times to the modern day - asking if robots will one day take over the world.

Jim Al-Khalili investigates the fascinating story of the robot, using original documents, reconstructions and sophisticated computer graphics. 

It would take Lord Byron's daughter, three brothers in ancient Baghdad and a mission to Mars to give us the technology that could transform the world. In ancient Greece, Homer writes of Hephaestus, god of fire and metalworking, who forges two mechanical handmaidens to help him. The idea of artificial people is born. 

Then in 8th-century Baghdad, three brothers make the world's first programmable machine, a self-playing trumpet. But how to build a proper robot? Victorian inventor Charles Babbage checks navigation tables for ships for a living. The tables are riddled with mistakes. He wonders if a machine could do the work mistake-free and designs a mechanical computer. 

Then Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, realises that the machine could solve nearly any problem and writes the first computer programs. In 1936, postgraduate Alan Turing wonders if, as Lovelace suggested, a machine could compute any calculation. He describes a general-purpose computer. After World War II come the first electronic computers, but they are far from Turing's vision. In a long-lost radio broadcast, Turing imagines a machine perfectly mimicking a human. Who's to say the computer is not having thoughts? 

Next, scientist William Walter is convinced the secret to a brain is how it's wired. He creates a robot called a tortoise. We see a replica react to obstacles. It is the beginning of machine autonomy. We now have robots on Mars, but bringing them into our daily lives requires a new revolution. Enter the amazing TORO robot, which can walk, manipulate things and interact with people. Then we meet the remarkable iCub, that learns like a child and can share its expertise with others. 

One day robots will be embedded in our lives. But will we ever consider them to have independence or rights - and will they take over the world?

Revolutions: The Ideas that Changed the World: Series 1

Knowledge, arts, music and culture from the UK and the world.

BBC Four reflects arts, music and culture with an ambitious range of intellectually and culturally enriching programmes, taking an expert and in-depth approach to its subjects.

The amazing story of how we made the modern world, told through six fantastic inventions. Dramatic, exciting and full of bizarre twists and surprising turns.

‘It takes more than one mind to change the world’

In this major new series for BBC Four, co-produced by PBS, Jim Al-Khalili explores the extraordinary story of six remarkable inventions: the aeroplane, the car, the rocket, the smartphone, the telescope and the robot. All are familiar, yet hidden within them are thousands of years of thought, struggle, sacrifice, determination and insight.

The series also reminds us of both the visionaries we are all familiar with and those that many viewers will discover for the first time: Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci, female pioneers Ada Lovelace and Bertha Benz, and medieval scholar Ibn al-Haytham, to name but a few. We peer into their original notebooks and sketches, and use state-of-the-art experiments, groundbreaking drama and CGI to shed new light on their discoveries.

Each episode explores little-known stories and is packed with incredible ideas, from the beginnings of robotics 2,000 years ago to the Hollywood starlet and inventor who, while trying to defeat the Nazis, made today’s mobile network possible. We see time and again how a completely chance discovery led to an application that no-one was expecting. 

The result is a mind-blowing, science-led journey through human history, full of unintended consequences and incredible connections. It celebrates the achievements of the some of the greatest minds in human history and reveals how science, invention and technology build on one another to change everything.


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