Sethu Vijayakumar is the Professor of Robotics and the Director of the Institute for Perception, Action and Behavior (IPAB) at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. This inaugural lecture, entitled "Robots that learn: old dreams, new tools", is about making robots run faster, jump higher and throw further while being as versatile, robust and adaptive as humans. Sethu illustrates some success stories and talks about the spills and thrills of working on exciting robotics platforms such as KUKA and SARCOS dexterous arms, Touch Bionics iLIMB and humanoid robots such as the HONDA ASIMO, DB and the Nao footballers. He also reflects on the impact of this work on domains ranging from assisted living and autonomous navigation to prosthetics, robotic radiotherapy, exoskeletons and green energy. Recorded 25 April 2012 at the Informatics Forum, Edinburgh. Listen to podcast