Professor Noel Sharkey (second left) with Ray Hickey (left) and  Professor Paul McKevitt and Dr Norman Creaney from the University

Professor Noel Sharkey, star of BBC cult-series Robot Wars, will be one of the guest speakers at a University of Ulster conference on Artificial Intelligence today.

Professor Sharkey, who has been chief judge for every series of Robot Wars throughout the world, and who is originally from Coleraine, is an expert in biologically inspired robotics and human-robot interaction. His talk will trace the history of “intelligent” mechanisms from ancient to modern.

Professor Sharkey asserts that contrary to popular belief, robots have no chance of taking over the world.

"They don’t have as much intelligence as bacteria and they never will,” he says.

“All creatures can be fooled by a bit of camouflage and illusion and humans are no exception, just as fishermen can use a lure to catch a fish, the Artificial Intelligence worker can pick out features that deceive humans into believing animacy,” explains Professor Sharkey.

“Robots are already moving into the household as vacuum cleaners and pet-like companions. As this happens more and more, we will need to use more and more sophisticated deception.”

Professor Sharkey’s talk is part of a world lecture and media tour where he is revealing the truth about the future of AI and robots.

The Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (AICS) Conference will take place at the Flowerfield Arts Centre from Wednesday 7 September to Friday 9 September.

It is the 16^th Irish annual AICS conference and is hosted by the School of Computing and Engineering based at the University’s Coleraine campus.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter