Abstract
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have always been among the most popular topics in science fiction (sci-fi) movies. This paper endeavors to review popular movies containing Fictional Robots (FR) to extract the most common characteristics and interesting design ideas of robots portrayed in science fiction. To this end, 134 sci-fi films, including 108 unique FRs, were investigated regarding the robots’ different design aspects (e.g., appearance design, interactive design and artificial intelligence, and ethical and social design). Also, in each section of this paper, some characteristics of FRs are compared with real social robots. Since some researches point to the significant role of the cinema in forming the community’s expectations, it is very important to consider these characteristics and differences in choosing the future pathway of robotics. As some examples of findings, we have found that unlike the non-metallic skins/covers of real social robots, most FRs are still covered by highly detailed metal components. Moreover, the FR ability of interactions are generally (more than 90%) shown to be similar or even more advanced than normal Human–Human interactions, and this milestone was achieved by ignoring the AI challenges of real HRI. On the other hand, the ethical aspects of movies do inspire us to consider the potential ethical aspects of real robot design. All in all, according to popularity of movies, studying FR could be a step toward more appropriate development of robotics and AI entities to be accepted by general users in the real world.Highlights:We reviewed 134 sci-fi movies containing 108 unique fictional robots regarding different design aspects.Fictional Robot (FR) is an artificial entity acting as a result of a fictional technology and playing a role in a movie.Investigating fictional robots can shed light on the development of real robotics and AI entities.
Highlights
After watching only a few science fiction classics, one quickly realizes that robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) have always been a compelling topic in sci-fi movies.As a manifestation of advanced technology, robots play an important role in depicting the future of humans in sci-fi movies
Some researchers have used a limited number of movies; i.e., Lorenčík et al [11] examined 6 sci-fi movies from many aspects such as the technology behind the stories and their real-life applications; others examined movies from a number of limited viewpoints; i.e., Bartneck [12] examined fictional robots mainly to find their attitude and similarity to humans; some other researchers studied the relationship of movies and reality in detail; i.e., Riek et al [13] performed a trial to find a positive correlation between watching sci-fi movies and the positive attitude toward robots
We hope that these issues and all the issues raised so far in this article will be a step toward better development of robotics and artificial intelligence systems in the real world
Summary
After watching only a few science fiction (sci-fi) classics, one quickly realizes that robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) have always been a compelling topic in sci-fi movies.As a manifestation of advanced technology, robots play an important role in depicting the future of humans in sci-fi movies. While it is no surprise that researchers are interested in studying the fiction and reality relationship, there appears to be a lack of detailed and exhaustive analysis of robotic scifi movies in the literature. Some researchers have used a limited number of movies; i.e., Lorenčík et al [11] examined 6 sci-fi movies from many aspects such as the technology behind the stories and their real-life applications; others examined movies from a number of limited viewpoints; i.e., Bartneck [12] examined fictional robots mainly to find their attitude and similarity to humans; some other researchers studied the relationship of movies and reality in detail; i.e., Riek et al [13] performed a trial to find a positive correlation between watching sci-fi movies and the positive attitude toward robots. Murphy wrote at least two books [16, 17] and many articles (i.e., [18–21]) to connect sci-fi movies and stories to real-life applications and challenges in robotics and AI
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