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Man-Machine

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Last broadcast on Sun, 25 Jan 2009, 18:00 on BBC Two (see all broadcasts).

Synopsis

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.

take it further:

Discover more about the ideas close to James' heart with the Open University.

Visit James May's Big Ideas website on Open2.net

the big ideas interactive challenge:

James 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

Credits

Presenter
James May
Producer
Nigel Paterson

Broadcasts

  1. Sun 5 Oct 2008
    21:00
  2. Thu 9 Oct 2008
    19:00
  3. Sat 13 Dec 2008
    01:40
  4. Thu 18 Dec 2008
    00:10
  5. Sun 25 Jan 2009
    18:00

More details

Episode 2 of 3 from

In this series

Duration

60 minutes

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