The apocalyptic vision mirrors the plot of The Terminator series of movies in which intelligent machines learn to manufacture new androids themselves in order to multiply their 'race' by automation.
Lord Rees, Astronomer Royal of the Royal Observatory, said: "There has been just a thin sliver of time when organic beings have existed and billions of years after machines will take over, so they will be the future.
"I would predict that in the next 50 years or so all of the bodies in the solar system will have been mapped and probed by machine and some people will follow.
"By the end of the century there will be some people living away from the Earth.
"We will wish them good luck in adapting their progeny who will need genetic adaptations.
"That will be the start of the post-human era because they will evolve to be a new species."
In The Terminator movies, SkyNet is a military defence computer system that becomes self-aware and begins to act on its own, with tragic consequences for humankind.
The latest release in the franchise is the forthcoming Terminator Genisys that features the return of aging action hero Arnie Schwarzenegger.
And in cyperpunk film Robocop, law enforcement robot Enforcement Droid Series 209 goes rogue after developing a glitch and brutally machine-guns a technology company executive a death.
Lord Rees told the Cheltenham Science Festival said: "I am concerned about sub-autonomous military robots which can just put bullets in people.
"I think it is quite likely that within a few centuries the overriding intelligence will be machines because they will have an easier time spreading beyond the Earth because they are not organic and most exploration will be by machines and not humans."
He has previously spoken of the dangers of misusing bio-technology and the threat to our species.
In a TED Talk, one of the lectures hosted by the idea-spreading not-for-profit, he said: "Other science fiction nightmares may transition to reality – dumb robots going rogue or a network that develops a mind of its own."
Other scientists have warned that within 200 years humans will begin to 'upgrade' themselves using genetic engineering and technology to produce a kind of cyborg.
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