**David Mindell** examines our relationship with robots. How truly independent are they presently, and how autonomous can they be in the future? In the robots we use for space exploration, deep-sea research, and many other tasks. The real "brain" seems to be human, not robotic, His recent book, which he discusses, explains both the value of robots and the actual limits of robotic autonomy at a time when there is increasing controversy about the capabilities of robots.