Times UK’s Top 50 Movie Robots
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 13 of August , 2007 at 1:02 am
The Times (the UK one, not the NY one) has published a list of what they’re calling the 50 best movie robots of all time, ranked by the following:
-Plausibility (meaning how likely it would be that, with advances on currently existing technology, such a device could be built)
-Coolness (just how well designed, shiny or generally well-appointed the robot appeared to be)
-Dangerousness (scoring not only on built-in weaponry, but the robot’s eagerness to use it)
-Comedy Value (how effective the robot is at providing light relief in the film in which it appears)
Best of all, the entire list features links to YouTube clips of each robot in action. After the jump, experience my obligatory outrage at some of the rankings:
32. Cylons
Why is there no sexyness category in this list? The Cylons only got a coolness score of 6, but if coolness is measuring “how generally well-appointed” the robot is, I think there are one or two very well-appointed toasters worth a 10.
23. Data
If you’ve ever watched the entire run of Star Trek: The Next Generation in a Mountain Dew fueled start to finish marathon like I have, the episodes that stand out most are often the ones featuring the exploits of Data. It’s not because he’s a particularly badass robot (although he certainly has his moments), it’s more that over the course of seven seasons, his character undergoes a rather evocative struggle to embrace his human side. It’s a depth that most movie robots can’t touch, and certainly deserving of a spot in the top 20, at the very least.
11. R2-D2
No top 10 for R2-D2? What a travesty! Even if you’re not a fan of Star Wars (or George Lucas), it’s pretty amazing how much of a personality R2-D2 was able to manifest as a non-anthropomorphic robot shaped like a mailbox who could only express himself via a somewhat limited repertoire of beeps. Let that be a lesson to robot UI designers everywhere: it doesn’t have to be fancy and complicated to be highly effective.
Check out the complete list here.
VIA [ Danger Room ]
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Category: Pop Culture
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Made Monday, 13 of August , 2007 at 1:20 pm
[...] Hello Kitty Robot, I-Sobot (shown), and Spyke, there are some pop culture robot references, like “The top 50 movie robots”. No word yet on if they’ll cover military / industrial use robots, or go ga-ga over the [...]
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