Robohub.org
 

Quirky short film starring robot “Gumdrop”

by
21 November 2012



share this:

In this short film from feature director Kerry Conran, Gumdrop is a 27 year old Bulgarian robot auditioning for a role in a feature film. Along the way some clever CGI allows Gumdrop to show her skills dancing with Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire.

Gumdrop explores the genre of humanoid human-acting robots, and it’s a nice irony that the robot is both acting human and an actor. While very far from any robotic reality in the near future, films like this pose the questions of how we expect robots to relate to us.

Her visual appearance aside, she is the most non-robotic robot that I’ve ever seen realized on screen.  Her expressions, her naivete, her nervous laughter and chit chat—all of it is the very essence of a human…… If Conran’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he was the brains behind the 2004 feature, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a visually inventive dieselpunk action film that was spawned from Conran’s very own short film.  Ultimately, though, Sky Captain was a box office disappointment. [http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2012/11/20/gumdrop/]

 

 




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.





Related posts :



Robotic bees and roots offer hope of healthier environment and sufficient food

Miniature robots that mimic living organisms are being developed to explore and support real-life ecosystems.
18 March 2023, by

Robot Talk Episode 41 – Alessandra Rossi

In this week's episode of the Robot Talk podcast, host Claire Asher chatted to Alessandra Rossi from the University of Naples all about social robotics, theory of mind, and robots playing football.
17 March 2023, by

Mix-and-match kit could enable astronauts to build a menagerie of lunar exploration bots

Robotic parts could be assembled into nimble spider bots for exploring lava tubes or heavy-duty elephant bots for transporting solar panels.
14 March 2023, by

Learning to compute through art

“Introduction to Physical Computing for Artists” at the MIT Student Art Association teaches students to use circuits, wiring, motors, sensors, and displays by developing their own kinetic artworks.
12 March 2023, by

Robot Talk Episode 40 – Edward Timpson

In this week's episode of the Robot Talk podcast, host Claire Asher chatted to Edward Timpson from QinetiQ all about robots in the military, uncrewed vehicles, and cyber security.
10 March 2023, by

A new bioinspired earthworm robot for future underground explorations

The robotics prototype takes inspiration from earthworms. It is 45 cm long and weighs 605 grams and it is the first robot build by replicating the morphology and the functioning of real earthworms.





©2021 - ROBOTS Association


 












©2021 - ROBOTS Association