Episode 2 of 3
Duration: 1 hour
James May sets off to discover if his childhood vision of a world populated by robots will ever become a reality. He begins in Japan, where he is charmed by a woman wearing an electro-mechanical jumpsuit that can double her strength, before having a close encounter of the weird kind with a robot that's almost human - it's designed to look and behave exactly like its creator.
In the US, he meets the two million dollar bionic woman, and, in the unlikeliest of laboratories, he is astonished by the most sophisticated walking robot in the world, not because it can climb stairs and run, but because it walks straight into a door.
But is James' vision of the future just a little old-fashioned? To find out, he takes his first nervous step into a world where he becomes a ghost within a machine.
Discover more about the ideas close to James' heart with the Open University.
Visit James May's Big Ideas website on Open2.netJames invites you take part in a set of challenges to get him from A to B using any transport means possible. It could involve taking the bus or strapping on a jet pack - it's up to you to find the best solution.
Take the challenge
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