From July 6 to 15, the festival, which happens every two years, will feature more than 200 events at 24 locations. Festival director Dan Hendra said he was thrilled to be bringing "some of the world’s top experts in a range of fields to Dunedin".
"We’ll be offering festival-goers a diverse, fun-fuelled, inspiring line-up of events from hands-on workshops for kids and families to talks and seminars aimed at sharing the very latest from the world of science."
Airbus principal mission systems engineer Sian Cleaver is one such expert. She works on European Space Agency missions including Solar Orbiter, a planned sun-observing satellite now under development.
Another hotly anticipated guest is computer programmer Ally Watson, a co-founder of Code Like a Girl.
This Australian organisation was formed to inspire girls to learn computer coding.
Continuing the theme of women who are accomplished in science and technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Aeronautics and Astronautics Prof Karen Wilcox will be appearing.
Also co-director of the Centre for Computational Engineering, she leads research projects for the US Air Force.
While it is not yet sentient, NAO V6 is also set to draw crowds. This "multi-interactive 5.4kg humanoid robot" can see, talk, walk, dance and recognise people.
Festival tickets go on sale next week and the full programme will be available online from Thursday.
