Carme Torras

Carme Torras holds a Degree in Mathematics, a Ph.D. in Computer Science and is currently a research professor at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (Institute of robotics and industrial computing – CSIC-UPC). She combines her role leading a research group in assistant robotics at the CSIC-UPC with her work as a writer of fiction and promoter of ethics in the application of new technologies.

She has published books and articles on neural models, computer vision, artificial intelligence and robotics, areas in which she has led sixteen European projects, including an ERC Advanced Grant on the robotic manipulation of garments. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and EurAI, a numerary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, of the Institute of Catalan Studies and of the Acadèmia Europaea, and recipient of the Narcís Monturiol medal from the Government of Catalonia.

Her novels La mutació sentimental (Pagès Editors, 2008) – winner of the Manuel de Pedrolo 2007 and Ictineu 2009 prizes – and Enxarxats (Males Herbes, 2017) – Ictineu 2018 prize – deal with the ethical problems raised by robotics, AI and social networks. La mutació sentimental has been translated into Spanish (Milenio, 2012) and into English under the title The Vestigial Heart (MIT Press, 2018) together with a set of materials for teaching a university-level course on ethics in social robotics and AI, which has also been adapted for secondary and sixth form students (Pagès Editors, 2018). She is a member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers and the Catalan Science Fiction and Fantasy Society (SCCFF).