Robot & Frank: new film about human/machine interaction

One of the primary applications of humanoid robots is expected to be elder care. For decades, researchers, particular in Japan, have been on a mission to develop androids that would enable old people to live independently for longer by helping with meals, personal care, and mobility while also providing company. The forthcoming film, Robot & Frank, is a dramedy that plays on that theme. It'll be in theaters August 24. (Thanks, Jason Tester!)

• [winkybb]

  Yeah, because it would just be awful to have to care for our old people personally wouldn’t it? The idea that somebody seems to think that providing a humanoid android “company” is in any way whatsoever a good thing makes me sad.

  What is it with the blanket assumption that the elderly value their “independence” over the company of their family and friends. Whose independence is really being valued here?

  • [Brad H.]

    Have you actually watched the trailer? He hits on a younger librarian and goes to a party full of future trust fund ‘tards. The robot teacher-overlooker becomes the student along the way. 

    This is not a movie that is going to play out like an old NBC Today snippit of seniors having Aibo companions. 

    • [winkybb]

      I was commenting in the BB intro, not the trailer itself. I can see that this wasn’t clear. Apologies for the confusion.

      The trailer was amusing and the film looks like it might be quite good.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    A lot of old people don’t have family or friends. Or if they do, they’re also incapacitated. That’s one of the things that happens to you when you get old.

    • [winkybb]

      I know. It is that which makes me sad.

      Rephrased: “The way that we often treat the elderly, which means that an android companion may in fact be better than the lonely alternative, makes me sad.”

      • [wizardru]

        In some cases, it would be a way to respect the elderly’s wishes.  My father, like Frank here, did NOT want to live in a home.  He didn’t want to move near his kids and he did not want to give up his freedoms and lifestyle.  So much so that when he had a stroke, he forbade the doctors from calling us to know that it had happened until he was in rehab.  
        We had forced him to get a remote medical device, but he got rid of it after a few months.   The second stroke that nearly killed him and sent him into care still didn’t convince him to do otherwise…until I begged him to let us take care of him.  We never found out how long he lay on the floor, incapacitated until his landlord busted into his apartment after they hadn’t seen him for nearly a day.  I only wish leaving a robot butler with him was an option.

        You see poor treatment of the elderly, while I see an elderly man been given a way to maintain his independence while providing his kids some degree of peace-of-mind.

  • [ocker3]

     Human labour is quite expensive and unless someone needing care has money their children/the state have to pay for it. So cost-cutting measures are sought.

• [chrism6484]

  I wish I could watch a movie trailer without having to stop it halfway through in order to leave some of the plot points for the theater.

  • [Brad H.]

    I forget what trailer I saw earlier that basically revealed what looked to be the actual twist. This is nowhere near as bad but there are reasons I go into movies blind these days as trailers seem to give so much away.

    • [Brad H.]

      Remembered. 

      It was The Samaritan. Trailer for The Double is bad too. 

  • [Brian Cain]

    Indeed, I feel like I could skip seeing this now since I already know what happens.

    The absolute worse offender for this is the new Spider Man movie.  Someone recently figured out that over 25 minutes of the film has already been released via trailers, scene previews and the like.  The video they made from all the footage is basically the film.

    http://www.toplessrobot.com/2012/06/there_have_been_25_minutes_worth_of_amazing_spider.php

• [coffeemoon]

  I think it’s more of a case that in countries like Japan, the demographic development mandates that some serious though is being put into how make up the numbers to care for the elderly. Simplified: Birth rates are declining, and life expectancy rising. The problem has become apparent in European countries (and possibly others) in the pension system that was prevalent in the latter half of the 20th century. Those systems collapsed as the amount of people currently in employment can not generate the monies needed to support the very young (education) and very old (care). As an island with little immigration Japan can not rely on immigration labour to make up for its own demographic deficit.

• [SedanChair]

  “Hey, you were great as the jewel thief in On Robot Pond“

• [Scott Smith]

  Saw this at the deadCENTER Fim Fest and it was one of my favorite screenings of the week. I highly recommend seeing this when it hits the theaters.  

• [RJ]

  That looks like a of a good movie. Much better than the comic book drudgery staining-up the cinema screens these days.

• [lbigbadbob]

  I saw it at the LA Film Fest and thought it was brilliant. Highly recommended. Go see.

• [Sirkowski]

  That looks awesome.

• [timquinn]

  This wil help us keep those weird brown people out of the house, won’t it?

• [StCredZero]

  High fidelity haptic teleoperation could facilitate elder care. One homecare specialist could remotely “teleport” from one house to another, so long as a robot body is posted there, which would let one employee serve many more homes. There would also be less risk of back strain for the home care worker who has to lift and move invalid patients. Great care would have to be taken with security, as a hacker taking over a super-strong robot body already inside a stranger’s home could be very ugly.