Robot or Not?

65: Serena Williams 04.07.2016 8:36 ↓

It’s Wimbledon time, and so our discussion turns to tennis, and Serena Williams—who is not a robot, despite her perhaps wishing she was.

64: Rossum's Universal Robots 27.06.2016 2:44 ↓

Karel Capek’s play that made this podcast possible.

63: Animatronic Creatures 20.06.2016 1:25 ↓

The Country Bears, Chuck E. Cheese, and the things from Five Nights at Freddy’s.

62b: Filesystems and Flowerpot Robots 18.06.2016 3:50 ↓

Live from RelayCon WWDC 2016, it’s a special live edition of Robot or Not.

62: General Grievous 13.06.2016 2:16 ↓

He’s a droid with a cough. So what’s the deal?

61: Elevators 06.06.2016 3:15 ↓

They go up, they go down. They might even go sideways from time to time. And they can be smart. But are they robots?

60: Inspector Gadget 30.05.2016 2:27 ↓

Go go Gadget! Also we get off on a tangent about Penny, inspired by The Flop House.

59: The Doctor from "Star Trek: Voyager" 23.05.2016 2:53 ↓

Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Can a hologram be a robot?

58: Synths 16.05.2016 3:34 ↓

From the AMC TV series “Humans,” the lifelike Synths look like humans but don’t act like it. And they bleed a funny color.

57: Baymax 09.05.2016 6:26 ↓

He’s an inflatable, medical robot from “Big Hero 6”—but can you back up your personality and still be a robot?

56: The Incomparable's Logo 02.05.2016 1:35 ↓

Our own robot (or not) is in the spotlight at last.

55: The Tin Woodman 25.04.2016 3:53 ↓

If he only had a heart.

54: T-1000 18.04.2016 4:06 ↓

It’s made of liquid metal.

53: Tamagotchi 11.04.2016 1:25 ↓

Is it even a game? What if you had a video game that featured a robot?

52: The Robots of "Destiny" 04.04.2016 6:06 ↓

From Bungie’s bestselling video game, Ghosts, Exos, Rasputin, and other things that might be robots.

51: Lego Simulated Worm Toy 28.03.2016 5:59 ↓

A software model of a flatworm, piloting a Lego Mindstorms toy.

50: The Matrix 21.03.2016 3:29 ↓

Agents and Oracles and Architects from the “Matrix” trilogy.

49: Chatbots 14.03.2016 3:12 ↓

They listen to us and talk back. But is that enough?

48: Replicants 07.03.2016 7:08 ↓

Roy Batty, Pris, and all the rest. They’ve seen the Tannhauser Gate, but are they robots?

47: Thomas and Friends 29.02.2016 3:31 ↓

Living rail cars in Sodor.

46: Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo 22.02.2016 2:04 ↓

The bots from “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”

45: Nanobots 15.02.2016 6:46 ↓

Enter the realm of the very, very tiny as John and Jason ponder if size matters when it comes to whether something is a robot or not.

44: The Internet of Things 08.02.2016 2:34 ↓

Security expert Bruce Schneier said the Internet of Things was a robot, but what does John think? You can probably guess.

43: Daleks and Cybermen 01.02.2016 5:42 ↓

Two enemies wrapped in metal shells from “Doctor Who” face their ultimate foe—the judgment of John Siracusa.

42: Prince Robot IV 25.01.2016 2:27 ↓

It’s right there in the name of this character from the acclaimed comic book “Saga,” but as we’ve learned, names can be misleading.