Question: What made you want to make robots?

Conor McGinn answered on 8 Mar 2016:

In the beginning it was just an interest really. A fascination at the prospect of building something that like us, was intelligent. I saw a huge opportunity to do what had never been done before. Like an explorer being the first person to see a new place, I felt that I was learning things that no other human has learnt and getting insights that nobody (or few others had). Later on, I realised the power of robots, how they have the capability to change the world both for good and for bad. In addition to the original fascination (which is growing btw!), I feel a responsibility to ensure that what we do with the technology helps people. And as an engineer I feel a duty not to allow the wrong people use it – you will not see me work on any military projects for example and where possible, I will speak out against unethical development of this technology.