Should robots look like humans?
Tech Life
BBC
4.3 • 227 Ratings
🗓️ 2 July 2021
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
SoftBank pauses production of the Pepper service robot with no date for when it will resume. Does it suggest a lack of appetite for humanoid devices? Plus, Mobile World Congress is back in hybrid form. Does the online / in-person attendance model work for big tech events? Plus, why the system of internet addresses is preventing many people from getting online. Presented by Rory Cellan-Jones, with BBC senior tech reporter Zoe Kleinman. Produced by Jat Gill.
(Image: Stock photo of the Pepper robot, Credit: Reuters).
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | On Radio 4, the more you listen, the more you see. |
| 0:04.7 | Hello, I'm Brian Cox. |
| 0:05.6 | And I'm Robin Ince, and this is The Infinite Monkey Cage. |
| 0:08.3 | In this series, we're going to have a planet off. |
| 0:10.8 | I feel like Jupiter wins. |
| 0:12.8 | And after all of that, we're just going to chill out a bit. |
| 0:15.9 | We're talking about your bog standard. |
| 0:17.8 | Ice, not the fancy one. |
| 0:20.1 | Science with funny bits. |
| 0:21.9 | The new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. |
| 0:24.1 | Listen on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. |
| 0:28.1 | Thanks for downloading this TechTent podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:32.4 | Find out more about us at BBCWorldservice.com slash TechTent. |
| 0:39.9 | Hello and welcome to TechTent, your weekly guide to all the hottest news and trends from |
| 0:44.3 | the technology world. I'm Rory Catalan Jones and this week, Pepper, the humanoid robot, has been |
| 0:50.3 | the star of many a tech event, but now its makers have decided to pause production. |
| 0:56.6 | We'll explore what this tells us about where robotics is heading. |
| 1:00.7 | The first big tech event cancelled by the pandemic returned this week. |
| 1:05.6 | But how did the hybrid mobile world congress go? |
| 1:09.6 | We hear from someone who went to Barcelona and someone who watched |
| 1:13.1 | online. And the man in charge of the net regulator ICANN tells us why internet addresses need to speak |
| 1:20.4 | more languages to get more people online. Joining me this week is BBC Senior Tech reporter Zoe |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.