1. Science Fiction or Not

Science Fiction or Not?

Part A...

List as many movies you can think off that have used robots....
e.g.

Transformers

iRobot

Lost in Space

Star Wars

Star Trek

Wall-e

Terminator

Part B...

You have watched a number of movies that feature Robots, including Transformers. In 200 to 500 words discuss whether the film industry has depicted the reality of robots, or are they simply basing their material on science fiction? Ensure you justify your answer, include examples and also include pictures.

The film industry has had differing results when it comes to depicting the future of the robot, humanoid and android technologies. The film industry has mostly had an overly-optomistic view of what the future of how robots will communicate with humans, and how they will assist humans in their daily lives.

The film industry has usually used robots in futuristic movies, such as Wall-E, which is set in around 2750. Robots have usually had human-like qualities, and have not really depicted what earth's current technology with robots is. Robots in movies usually have human like qualities and can make human-like decisions easily. In the real world, this of course is not true, and robots of this day and age cannot make human-like decision, and cannot act fast enough like they do in movies.

An good example of how a futistic idea of what robots will be like in the near future is iRobot. iRobot is set in 2035. In the movie, robots are able to talk to humans, can learn, have human like qualaties (being an android), are able to respond very quickly, can walk and jump, and can move any way humans can. Of course, today, robots are very different. The only robot that can walk well is Honda's ASIMO. ASIMO is a robot that cannot talk, and cannot learn. to a degree, robots of this day and age are helpers, and many companies are getting a vast amount of traction for their technology, but they are nowhere near as intelligent as even the older robots in iRobot. Of course, we are 22 years from the year that iRobot is depicted (2035), but I personally do not believe that the robots of 2035 or even 2040 will be able to function like the robots in iRobot, or even any other futuristic movie set around that time. My view of robots of the year 2035 is that they will be able to walk and talk and respond to a degree, but they will need more time to 'think' and access the internet to be able to do the same things that the robots in iRobot do. A picture of what the iRobots look like is above.

Below, is ASIMO showing its improved autonomy and dexterity vs older ASIMO models (An older version of ASIMO is the picture above the new ASIMO)

Of course, science could instantly discover the key to building very intelligent robots in the near future, but the chance of that happening is very slim. There are robots that can help around the house with chores today, and they have been around for a number of years, but they can only do one thing, I am talking about vacuum robots. These robots are semi-smart, in that they know when they are about to hit a wall, or if they are going to fall down a step. These robots can make a map of their area where they have to clean, and remember where the step is, and where the walls of the house are. This is a good example of how robotics are heading in the right direction. The next step is when you can buy an ASIMO robot that can move objects around while talking to the vacuum robot, to clean under things such as small tables.

In conclusion, I believe that the film industry has been very overly-optomistic in their depiction of the future of robots, and the walking, talking and helping android robot is 'not in our grasp' quite yet, I believe that in the next 4 to 5 decades, we may see some progress on robots finally being much smarter than they are now.

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