Sorry, those virtual robots are freaking me out.

FORBES: Connect

Talk to him for a bit, and then show him something very, very trippy: virtual toy robots fighting it out on a real surface that can only be seen through a smart phone.

FORBES: Connect

Robots and virtual reality have been used to let rats and humans interact.

BBC: Rats and humans meet via virtual reality and robotics

Harvesting asteroids, creating a radically transparent virtual world state and replacing workers with intelligent robots are all very well, but unless our big tech companies recognize their social responsibilities, I fear that our real future could be as disturbing as the science fictional one presented in Ridley Scott's blockbuster.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Dr McLean envisages that one day, before buying robots for its factory, a company may buy virtual ones from the suppliers' catalogue for a nominal fee.

ECONOMIST: Manufacturing technology