Movie Robots We'd Like To See Made Real
We love anything featuring robots. Except maybe the HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Maximillian from The Black Hole (1979) or Ash from Alien (1979). Not those robots, please.
We get a childlike wonder in anthropomorphising the blank slate of robotic expression, or watching a film where we really, really want that robot to exist because it is everything we'd want it to be. Robots are cool and don't have the psychopathic/selfish flaws of humans (or do they?).
With the advances in modern technology, robots, from the most basic to the technologically bemusing, are already produced as toys or workers for light help - think Aibo and Roomba - depending on how big your wallet is. Now robots can drive cars, teach kids and run machinery - whether they should do it though, is a matter for ethics discussions the world over.
With all that in mind, here are our list of robots we'd like to meet in the real world.
Johnny 5 - Short Circuit (1986)
Even though this wasn't the first time movie-goers had fallen in love with a shiny hunk of metal (R2D2 anyone?), the film Short Circuit (1986) introduced us to one of the most beloved - who, as it turns out, was alive and up for a sequel in cute pathos.
Ava - Ex-Machina (2015)
Ava, a certainly beautiful, but rather sad AI robot, the creation of reclusive scientist Nathan (no last name), would be an amazing scientific achievement if it were true.
However, if you've seen the film, you'll know things don't quite go to plan so we're not sure whether Ava becoming a reality would be a very good or a very bad thing.
Major Motoko Kusanagi - Ghost In The Shell (1995)
Major Motoko Kusanagi is an augmented human who is more cybernetics than flesh and blood.
The astute leader of Public Security Section 9, a fictional law-enforcement department, she protects the department from cybernetic threats and artificial intelligence hacks at the expense of her physical form.
The star of three films and a TV series as well as the original Manga comic, the rebooted movie will star Scarlett Johansson in the role which is no bad thing for the franchise's popularity.
Kusanagi would be a formidable white hat operative in the real world.
Wall.E - Wall.E (2008)
Wall-E is the Johnny 5 of the new millennium.
As a loveable, lonely robot seemingly doomed to clean up an Earth that has become a rubbish dump, Wall-E finds love and defies its programming to become a little more human.
In today's reality, we could certainly use more clean-up robots to help with the already existing issue of space rubbish, ocean waste and nuclear by products. Only if the robots want to, that is. If not, that's totally cool with us. Just do what you want, robots. Oh God, please don't hurt us.
Bender - Futurama (1999)
Bender, the abrasive robot from Futurama, easily makes the cut. We'd like to chill with him at a bar and trade insults whilst musing on the pros and cons of being human.
He's also really good at bending stuff, of course, so he'd be a useful asset in manufacturing. The kind of robot you'd want with you on a road trip or a pub crawl, so long as he's not driving.
"Every time I burp, a new galaxy is created. Two if I've been eating broccoli."
Robocop - Robocop (1987)
In today's modern law enforcement popularity downturn, it would be ironic if Robocop became the norm for security. With all the anti-drone rhetoric about the ethical dangers of unpoliced technology, to devolve power to a programmed robot for making police decisions would be certainly risky.
However, if it actually did a better job of policing than current enforcement personnel, especially in the US, it might prove the saviour of police relations with their communities. But then again, it might bring a new, terrifying meaning to "reasonable force".
Synergy - JEM (1985)
Synergy, an audio-visual holographic computer unit who Jerrica Benton inherits when her father (the creator) dies. Synergy helps her turn into Jem, creating the stage shows and optical illusions that solidify Jem's status as a superstar. Jem communicates with Synergy via wireless earrings.
We could definitely use something like that when we need to dress appropriately for nights out or re-arrange our flat when we're bored of the Ikea furniture.
Rosie - The Jetsons (1962)
Ok, technically not a movie, but this helpful robot joins the Jetsons cartoon family in Orbit city as their housekeeper.
We could all use one of those from time to time although if house-help robots contained AI, an issue of robots rights and usage ethics would become inevitable - which is why we didn't include robots from Humans, David from Prometheus or the android that helps fly the ship in Dark Matter.
- Techradar's Movie Week is our celebration of the art of cinema, and the technology that makes it all possible.
