Lights, camera, action at the Robot Film Festival

Bringing together people and robots for an amazing social event, the 4th annual Robot Film Festival was held on Saturday July 19 at Bot & Dolly studio in San Francisco. The Festival opened with the first US screening of Japanese feature film Hinokio, the story of a boy who attends school by telepresence robot. Hinokio is a touching and complex movie that, in my opinion, explores human-robot interaction even more thoroughly than Robot and Frank. Now if you just want to skip to the Botsker awards there’s a full list at the end, but if you missed the festival, the tweet stream from @robotfilmfest is almost as good as really being there.

Festival founder & roboticist @heatherknight opens our 4th annual festival #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/iu4U3jsom4— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

“Hinokio” is about childhood, loss & fresh starts. One of main characters is a telepresence robot. Trailer: http://t.co/r2PRLwnMn0 #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

And…we’re back with a guest talk by @jazarimusic http://t.co/X3APLlvBMJ #RFF2014 — Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

You can hear more @jazarimusic compositions in @Soundcloud: https://t.co/XCmmUUazzt #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

The first short is @MyDateWithAdam, “a romantic comedy about finding perfection”: http://t.co/rKWxYj1hhF #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Floyd the Android gets laughs while exploring teleportation: https://t.co/O0NdJNMqpP #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Party animals and robot greyhounds take to the Great Salt Flats: http://t.co/4QEMzVmjUf #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Our next short comes from the @FuneralSuits debut album: http://t.co/WzF7fXSLuy #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

The high culture and precision of @SFBallet meets robotics in this short: http://t.co/g59vxCKwXJ #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Our next short comes to us from Malaysia: http://t.co/AWr2Afq9TQ #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Animals and their owners connect via telepresence robots: http://t.co/wwxkS3e0HB #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

We go back to 1941 for our next short, in which Superman battles mechanical monsters: https://t.co/EnrRXYL130 #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

“Esther has an unexpected guest tonight.” http://t.co/hctB7tnxV2 #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

A robot tries to fold origami. What happens will amaze you: https://t.co/4ENbMCYqiq #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

A robot with a medical degree finds itself in a hostage negotiation: http://t.co/ckjZHfo607 #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Aussies head to @SugarMountainAK and bring this back: http://t.co/Bz9UTeiYtY #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

In our second section of short films, robots & humans both ask, “Who am I?” We present films along the theme of identity… #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

“Box” kicks things off: http://t.co/q7Eug9reb1 #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

Our next film is a tribute to Zina Nicole Lahr by @StormyPyeatte: http://t.co/KqnLxPERqA #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

From Russia, with Love and Robots… http://t.co/RxvJkL21MP #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

The @Poppy_project demonstrates its open source humanoid platform: http://t.co/Jrb8ShlWqr #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

“What does your robot do?” http://t.co/pGG7A4YSjl #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 19, 2014

We field all sorts of films, including those about industrial robots: https://t.co/F8Q2PtvpOI #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Danger, Squirrel Nutkin, danger! http://t.co/1MCyJMxFhs #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

.@fishandchipsing asks us to Imagine if our toasters had feelings… http://t.co/ih7vtFOZrJ #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

A lonely robot sells ice cream and dreams of a better life… http://t.co/qtMRdYnMCz #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Imagine robots walking around with cellphones like we humans do… http://t.co/997pRIuIMb #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Pepper is not just designed to be your robot, it’s designed to be your friend: https://t.co/BbAymNqayQ #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Our last short takes the idea of worker drone to heart. http://t.co/q5UZPRBWMo #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

A live performance by @jazarimusic opens the 4th annual @robotfilmfest Botsker Awards pic.twitter.com/WMs1n1hW7L

— Chrys Wu (@MacDiva) July 20, 2014

Festival founder @heatherknight is joined by @Veronica as Botskers emcee. Thank you, Veronica! #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/wNa3e1EbJX

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

.@SugarMountainAK wins Best Telepresence http://t.co/Bz9UTeiYtY #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

“The Story of Brad the Toaster” from Europe wins the Most Uncanny Botsker http://t.co/0sxmOsJo3q #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Ginger the Robot entertains with a comedy routine. #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/2TgWAUF16f

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

“Changing Batteries” wins Best Robot-Human Interaction http://t.co/BMQzxnDlnH #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/uJEMHk2FMi

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

“Why We Love Robots” by @tiffanyshlain & @ken_goldberg wins the Most Educational Botsker #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/kNMx3QbU4d

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

The Best Actor Botsker goes to “Box” http://t.co/DmNLvitAgn #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/b7J7o2GwPs

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

And our final Botsker award, Best Picture, goes to @SHYNOLAfilms for “Dr. Easy.” http://t.co/dhVF8bhiZ9 #RFF2014 pic.twitter.com/aWaoTR9Bjp

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Congratulations to all of our 2014 Botsker winners! #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

And once again, a huge thank you to @Kuka_RoboticsUS @BotnDolly @Shapeways @DirtyRobotBrew for partnering with us… (1/2) #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

(2/2) ♥︎♥︎♥︎ to you all from the @RobotFilmFest producers @MarilynMonrobot @beat_bots & @MacDiva #RFF2014

— Robot Film Festival (@robotfilmfest) July 20, 2014

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.