Robots Can't Dance - Issue 20: Creativity - Nautilus

Can a robot be creative? Advances in cloud robotics--machines connected to supercomputers in the cloud--have given self-driving cars, surgical robots, and other "smart" devices tremendous powers of computation. But can a robot, even one supercharged with artificial intelligence, be creative? Ken Goldberg is the ideal person to ask. For one thing, when he was getting his Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, Goldberg built a robot that painted. For another, Goldberg, 53, is a computer engineer, roboticist, and artist himself. He grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he forged his creative path.