The Human Robot

The Human Robot explores the boundary between biological and mechanical intelligence through interviews with sociologists roboticists ethicists and philosophers Asking how human is too human in regards to robot design the film focuses primarily on Japanese culture and their positive attitude towards technology in contrast to Western cultures tendency towards fearing intelligent machines The filmmakers showcase a wide variety of intelligent robot designs from the flashy and entertaining automatons of Tokyos Robot Restaurant and the doglike Aibo robotic pet to the hyperreal Geminoid designs that mimic their human counterparts with great accuracy Androids are shown to already be quite prevalent in Japanese society where they hold positions as receptionists retail sales clerks and even news bulletin reporters