Over the last year or so there has been an avalanche of hype in the media about intelligent robots. According to some artificial intelligence (AI) geeks, we are on the threshold of the "Singularity" - the point at which machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence and triggers runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization. If only. The leader of the mechanical pack is a robot called Sophia who takes part in TV interviews and even participates in platform debates on the future of robotics. Sophia made headlines last year when "she" was granted citizenship of Saudi Arabia. Sophia's creator, David Hanson, of Hanson Robotics, claims that his robot is self-aware, or "becoming self-aware", and that "she" understands emotions and recognises the people around "her". Hanson is a liar and a fraud (and he's welcome to sue me if he'd like to contest that description in court). I...