Were it up to Christopher, this episode would be titled “ALL HAIL, BENDER, SUPREME ROBOT OF ALL ROBOTS!!!” but Shawn wouldn’t go for that. So instead, this week…we’ll talk about more robots than just Bender.

(Shawn can bite Christopher’s shiny metal ass!!!)

We begin this episode talking about the first time we can remember seeing a robot — fictional or otherwise. Then it’s on to, “What’s the first thing that pops into you head when you think ‘robot?'”

But robots are much more than vehicles for stories. We discuss the best real-world robots…and the worst!

But face it: when people think robots, they think about the future. So we would be bad meatbags if we didn’t devote some time to how we’d love to see robots used in the future.

But robots aren’t always cool. We talk about the most upsetting development in robotics — real or fictional…and then we discuss the best robot in the realm of fiction.

(“ALL HAIL BENDER!!!”)

Oh yeah…and the crappiest robot in fiction or the real world. Poor sad, stupid robots we don’t like…

(Yes, there was something in the 80s far worse than Alf!)

The future is always a moment away, so we take some time to talk about what uses for robots in the future make us a bit uneasy…and then we talk about if we think we’ll see sentient robots in our lifetimes.

As always, we wrap it up looking forward with a glint of optimism in our eyes (Take that, Skynet!). We close out this episode with the best possible future of robotics.

(Oh yeah, Christopher totally forgot a couple other fave robots: Daft Punk!)

We’d love to hear what you meatbags think about our robotic overlords in the comments below. Remember: the machine is watching…and it does not take kindly to criticism!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download