Born from the fusion of the original script for ``I, Robot'' and Isaac Asimov's novel.

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2019.04.10Takayuki Oguchi

fleshing out the characters

The scenario was developed over a period of five years, and was finally completed with the participation of Akiva Goldsman, screenwriter of ` `A Beautiful Mind '' (2001). His changes mainly concern the character settings of the characters.

For example, Detective Spooner has a nostalgic taste (*6) and feels hatred towards the robot that took his father's job. Also, when he was in a car accident, the robot prioritized rescuing him over the girl (*7), which continues to haunt him as a trauma. On the other hand, he has remained close with Dr. Lanning, who created the robotic prosthetic arm for his left arm, which he lost in the accident. He also added elements such as the doctor giving Detective Spooner a picture book of ``Hansel and Gretel'' as a hint for solving the case.

*6 He wears 2004 Converse Leather All Stars and rides a motorcycle called MV Agusta F4 SPR , also released in 2004. As for music, I'm listening to Stevie Wonder's ``Superstition'' on my JVC CD player. The setting is that electrical appliances of this era are commonly controlled by voice (such as Amazon Echo and Google Home), and Dr. Calvin is confused when he visits Detective Spooner's apartment.

*7 Detective Spooner and a 12-year-old girl, Sarah, are trapped in two cars that fall into the water due to an accident. The old robot NS-4, which happens to be passing by, has a 45% chance of saving Detective Spooner and an 11% chance of saving Sarah, but it calculates that it cannot save both of them at the same time, so it rescues only Detective Spooner.

This is a variation of an ethics thought experiment known as the `` trolley problem ,'' proposed by British philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967, and is an important issue in designing AI for self-driving cars. .

production design

Proyas chose Patrick Tatopoulos, who he also worked with on Dark City , as production designer. Tatopoulos doesn't have a very good impression in Japan, as he became famous for his design for Roland Emmerich's version of `` GODZILLA '' (1998). However, he designs not only creatures and characters, but also cityscapes, buildings, and props, and is also in charge of modeling monster suits and animatronics in his own workshop. He is a talented person who also served as a director.

NS-5 design

Proyas first asked him to design the robots that would appear in the play. The older model NS-4 is depicted as a classic humanoid reminiscent of the 1950s when `` I am a Robot '' was published, but the new NS-5 is required to have a distinctive appearance that is immediately recognizable. Ta. What they avoided above all else was a design with a smudged look on it, like the endoskeleton from `` The Terminator '' (1984). The result was an image of a crash test dummy with part of it exposed and a muscle-like structure visible from inside.

In an interview with the author, Tatopoulos said, ``I came up with the idea of using artificial muscles (*8). They're basically bundles of fibers, and they act like human muscles. But I didn't draw them myself. I didn't notice it when I was drawing it, but when I actually animated it with CG, I realized that the muscles didn't move properly.So I adjusted the design of the shoulder so that the joints could move properly, and the result was a good-looking model. It feels better, more powerful and scarier."

*8 Research on artificial muscles for robots like this is actually being conducted at s-muscle , a venture company based on research results from Tokyo Institute of Technology and Okayama University, and at Columbia University's Creative Machine Lab .

Modeled after a Japanese robot

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