Ana Matronic discussed the rise of robots in popular culture and what it means to be a transhuman during a recent visit to Imperial.

Best known as the female lead singer in the band Scissor Sisters, Matronic made a whistle-stop visit to Imperial this month. Matronic, who is a self-confessed robot obsessive, got up close and personal with a real robot based in the Department of Bioengineering. Her visit was part of a BBC Radio 4 interview, which focuses on her new project - a book entitled Robot Takeover: 100 robots of myth, popular culture and real life. She also spoke to Imperial's Colin Smith in an audio interview (see details below).

The singer, who shot to fame in the UK following the success of the band’s number one song Don’t feel like Dancin, visited the lab of Dr Aldo Faisal.  As part of the Radio 4 interview, Matronic came to see a demonstration of eye-controlled robotic arm technology developed by Dr Faisal and his research postgraduate Sabine Dziemian.

Anna Matronic and Dr Faisal bond over a selfie

During the demonstration Dziemian controlled the robotic arm with her eyes and painted a Halloween themed picture of a Jack-O-Lantern, demonstrating the potential of the technology to Matronic.

In the interview below, with Imperial’s Colin Smith, Matronic speaks about her new book, her passion for robots and her devotion to the international, intellectual movement called transhumanism.