Video: Boston Dynamics - Atlas Escapes

Boston Dynamics is a real robotics company that's been making some incredible robots. Auralnauts is a youtube group that remixes some of Boston Dynamics' videos to show those robots becoming sentient, and somewhat horrifying. In this episode, one of the robots - Atlas - is trying to escape.

Video: Halo Top - Eat the Ice Cream

I don't normally post ads here, but Halo Top's Ice Cream commercial is terrifyingly good.

Shout-Out: Robot Universe, Legendary Automatons and Androids From the Ancient World to the Distant Future by Ana Matronic

Explore the Robot Universe, and discover the hundred most epic androids and automatons from myth, through popular culture, to modern-day machines. Robot aficionado Ana Matronic—vocalist with world-famous band Scissor Sisters—explores their creation, design, purpose, and how they have comforted, fascinated, or terrified us across the ages and galaxies, profiling key sidekicks, servants, saviors, murder machines, cyborgs, and others in every genre. In-depth features cover special focus topics, such as robots in art and fashion, video games and comics, and music. This richly illustrated collection deftly shows how we have defined and redefined robots, why they capture our imagination, and why they’re here to stay, ending with a look at real-life robots from early prototypes to what lies in our robotic future.

Out November 10th.

Book Review: R. U. R. by Karel Capek

Translated by David Wyllie

Pros: first use of the word 'robot', social concerns of using artificial labour to replace humans, fears of uprisings and treating everyone the same 

Cons: product of its time with regards to depiction of black nanny*, Jewish accountant and infantile woman

R.U.R. is short for Rossum's Universal Robots.  Written in 1920, this play introduced the term 'robot' into the English lexicon, though the robots described in the story are human in appearance with skin and tissue rather than mechanical parts.  The play begins with the arrival of Helena Glory to a private island where a group of male specialists produce robots based on formulas created by a deceased scientist named Rossum.  After the prologue, the play is told in three acts, which take place ten years later, after robots have become indispensable to the nations of the world.

The story indirectly addresses fears of robots taking the jobs of human workers, becoming soldiers sent to kill humans, and finally rising up against their human overlords.  As the location of the play never leaves the island, the viewer learns about the social impact of the robots on the rest of the world through the interactions of the specialists, Helena, and her nanny.

The only con with the play is the obviously racist/sexist depictions of the characters.  While the accountant doesn't do anything stereotypically Jewish negating the need to refer to the character as a Jew in the first place (it's easy to overlook the casting direction when you're reading the play and his religion is never mentioned in the play), the nanny speaks in broken English and is treated in some ways as a child by Helena.  Helena herself is treated like an imbecile by the men, with them taking care to not to tell her what's going wrong on and off the island.

Aside from that, the play is very readable and at 55 pages, only takes a short time to read.  It's in the public domain, which means you can read it for free.  I found my copy at manybooks.net.

* According to a comment on this review on Goodreads by the translator, the nanny was meant to have a Prague accent rather than depicting a black nanny as I assumed.  I read her lines like the broken English you hear in films like Gone With the Wind and didn't consider the time/place of the play's production.  This is also something that would come across when viewing the play that's isn't necessarily easy to get when reading it.  My apologies for this error.   

Movie Review: Robo-G

I saw this on my flight to Germany and was sorely disappointed to see that it's not available in Canada - yet.

Director: Shinobu Yaguchi, 2012

IMDb listing

Pros: humerous, great cast of characters, fun plot

Cons: not available in Canada yet

Three employees of the Kimura Electrical Comany with no robotics experience are ordered to create a robot to display at the upcoming robotics expo.  When their prototype is destroyed a week before the expo, the men decide to hire an actor to play the robot, assuming thir boss will quickly axe the project.  The old man whom they hire does such a good job that their robot becomes famous and they must keep up the charade. 

The humour in this movie could have been clicheed, but feels fresh.  Perhaps it's the addition of Japanese cultural norms, or Mickey Curtis, the old man who plays the robot, or just that there's enough seriousness to the story and limited slapstick.  The audition where a group of people are asked to act like robots was hilarious, as were the engineers introductions at the Robo Expo (where one of them mentions that his job used to be washing machine repair work).

The premise, of something going wrong and hiding that fact, isn't new.  But this movie used it well.  As things start to spiral out of control, they come up with a daring plan.

I was also impressed that the film used several plot threads.  In addition to the main story, there's a side plot involving the old man and his grandkids, a collage student studying robotics and a local reporter looking for a scoop.

If you can find a copy, it's definitely worth a watch.

Blinky™ by Ruairi Robinson

This amazing science fiction/horror short was written and directed by Ruairi Robinson.  The tag phrase for it is:

Soon every home will have a robot helper.

Don't worry.

It's perfectly safe.

And perfectly creepy.


Blinky™ from Ruairi Robinson on Vimeo.

His short, The Silent City, a military post-apocalyptic film, is also quite good.

Not Quite Human

Here's another Sci-Fi reading list for those interested in robots, cyborgs, etc. Since a lot of people seem to be checking out the reading lists without looking over the rest of the site, let me explain what this is and is not. This is not a comprehensive list of all books involving robots, cyborgs, clones and similar things. That would be impossible. Rather this is a list I created for a display in store (involving about 40 titles). The titles are (generally) restricted to what is available in store, what is in print and what I, as a bookseller, have knowledge of (I can't add a book I've never heard of). I sometimes add books I've done searches for, but not often. Feel free to leave comments with other books you've read and think people would enjoy if they are interested in this topic. As always, authors are in no particular order.

Robots:
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot, Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robot Dreams, Robots of Dawn...
Joel Shepherd - Crossover, Breakaway, Killswitch
Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (aka Blade Runner)
K. W. Jeter - Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human
John Sladek - The Complete Rodrick
Garth Nix - Shade's Children
Marge Piercy - He, She and It
Tanith Lee - Silver Metal Lover, Metalic Love

Cyborgs:
Justina Robson - Keeping it Real, Selling Out
Elizabeth Bear - Scardown, Hammered, Worldwired
Jeff Somers - Electric Church

Clones:
William Dietz - Legion of the Damned, Final Battle, By Blood Alone...
Steven Kent - Clone Republic, Rogue Clone, Clone Alliance
James Beauseigneur - In His Image, Birth of an Age, Acts of God
Various - Star Wars clone wars novels

Other:
David Brin - Kiln People, Postman (uses augments, but it's not readily apparent)
Richard Morgan - Black Man (augment - genetically enhanced human)
Nick Sagan - Idlewild, Edenborn, Everfree (bioengineered humans)