Robots After Dark? Sounds scary, let's all go together – Susan Morrison

When I was a girl, robots were cheery things. The Robot was the guardian of the Robinson family, forever Lost in Space, especially in 1968 when the series was abruptly cancelled, leaving them permanently marooned.

No episode was complete without the Robot waving his stubby arms about, bellowing “Warning, Warning”, and saving the son of the family, Will. Quite frankly, Will was an irritating little squirt, endlessly upstaging his clearly far more intelligent big sister. I am an elder sister myself, and know whereof I speak.

He was the cousin of Robby the Robot who appeared in The Forbidden Planet. Robby was a useful piece of kit. He could manufacture gallons of booze at the drop of a hat – 60 to be precise. There’s the boy to take on a picnic. Other helpful happy robots included Rosie, the Jetsons’ metal maid, on hand to do the hoovering, dusting and laundry, all whilst wearing a frilly cap and an apron. Why a robot needs a French maid outfit was never explained.

Many kids back then believed that when we reached the age of housekeeping, we too would be followed about by a tireless tidying machine. The girls were wrong, but the boys were right. It’s still the mums of this world who tend to pick up those dropped socks.

Even into the 70s’ robots were the benevolent C-3PO and his little friend R2-D2. We loved them. Come on, who didn’t go “awwww…” when the wee robot fell over in the desert in the first Star Wars film?

It was all going so well, and then the Terminator appeared. No one said “aww…” when Arnie fell over, mainly because we knew he would be back soon. Suddenly robots weren’t cute defenders of annoying little brothers, manufacturers of bootleg booze or whatever it was that C-P3O actually did beyond shriek and wave its arms about in a slightly camp fashion, like a gold-foil Larry Grayson.

Robots began to make us very nervous. After all, Skynet, the intelligence behind the Terminators, decided to get rid of the human makers because we tried to switch it off. The computers and the robots decided that they could run the planet better. Given the current mess we’re in, I’m beginning to think the robots might be right.

The notion of a killer robot is downright scary and so it was with some alarm that I discovered that, right here in Edinburgh, there is what I can only describe as a breeding facility for the metal monsters. It’s right on the edge of town, because that is exactly where they would hide it, isn’t it? Well, it's not actually hidden. It’s at Heriot-Watt. And it's in a great big building with a great big sign up saying “The National Robotarium”, which is quite a cosy name for a killer robot farm.

Once upon a time, fictional robots were friendly and helpful. Then along came the Terminator (Picture: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Of course, these robots are no Terminators. They’re designed to work with humans and they have an off switch, I am reliably informed. You’ve got the chance to see the robots in action as part of the Science Festival on April 15, at the Robots After Dark event, where we can get to know our tin-can pals. Let's all go because I’m still not sure I trust them. Bet there's a Terminator somewhere.