If artificial intelligence will inevitably be a central part of how we will interact with machines and services in the future, then learning more about who is developing these new AI systems — and what they are making — is essential to us understanding and helping shape that world.

And you, dear reader, will have a chance to do exactly that next month, when Marc Raibert, the founder of Boston Dynamics, one of the most interesting robotics companies out there today, speaks at Disrupt, our flagship conference in London taking place December 5-6, and brings some of his robots along for the ride.

If there were a prize for the company that could best lay claim to the term “disruptor”, Boston Dynamics would definitely make the shortlist, if not win the whole thing hands down.

The company has alternately amazed and terrified people with its videos showing off its latest robots, creatures that roughly take the shape of humans and dogs and are able to scale snowy terrains, get up when they fall down, and do a number of tasks.

There are literally dozens of components that go into AI systems — from computer vision and machine learning systems to process the world and decide what to do, through to the hardware mechanics to execute those decisions — and Boston Dynamics is one of the few synthesizing all of them in one place successfully, which begs all kinds of questions about what these robots could do in a few years’ time, versus what they should be doing.

And Boston Dynamics has been a party to other kinds of disruption, too. It was acquired by Google in 2013 and is now a part of its Alphabet business — albeit, it seems, with some catches.

Join us at Disrupt to hear the latest on all of this, and to see some of Boston Dynamics’ robots for yourself.

The two-day Disrupt conference runs December 5 to 6 in the Olympic Village’s Copper Box Arena and features Startup Alley and Startup Battlefield where one startup will take home $50,000 (about £40,600). You can buy early-bird tickets for Disrupt London here. Early bird finishes TODAY!

You want to display your company? Then go for a booth in the Startup Alley. For startups there is also the brand new CrunchMatch program where we match startups to investors. Check it all out here.

Extra early bird tickets are now available to purchase for the discounted price of just £950 a piece. You can get your tickets at this price until 4 November — that’s TODAY!

And for all you students out there, the deal is about to get even sweeter. We have a limited selection of student tickets to Disrupt London 2016 for just £100 plus VAT, provided you have both a valid university ID and current transcripts.

To reserve your £100 student tickets to Disrupt, simply send a copy of your transcripts showing your current enrollment status, as well as a copy of your university identification card to students@beta.techcrunch.com. Once you’re approved, we’ll send you instructions for how to complete your registration.

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