RoboFest 7 was held September 14th and 15th, 1996 at Dobie Mall, Austin, Texas. Dobie Mall was one of the major sponsors of RoboFest 7 and we are grateful to them for their support.
The festival times were 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Admission was $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for children under 12 years of age.
The Robot Film Festival, at Dobie Theatre, featured three films with robotic themes. Admission price for each film was $3.50. For more information and descriptions of the films browse the film festival web page.
Austin Free-Net is a non-profit corporation providing public access to the Internet and emerging technologies for all Austin residents, especially those who don’t have computers in their homes. The Free-Net is a community-driven project.
CSW Communications, Inc. was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Central and South West Corporation. Through programs such as Customer Choice & Control, CSW Communications offered communications-based energy management solutions and other communications services which provided a path for an expanded relationship with customers and allowed customers greater choice and control over their electric usage.
Digital Mystix, Inc was an advanced developer of Web applications for the Internet and Intranets. Its highly skilled team utilized its technical and multimedia knowledge to offer cutting edge products with efficiency and precision. Digital Mystix offered a wide spectrum of interactive products and services for education and corporate development.
FringeWare, founded in 199 by Jon Lebkowsky and Paco Nathan, was one of the early commercial sites on the Internet. It experimented with mixing subcultural analysis and ecommerce, hence the name “fringe” plus “ware”.
DANCING WITH THE VIRTUAL DERVISH: WORLDS IN PROGRESS – by Marcos Novak & Friends “In its present disincarnation, consists of a series of interconnected cyberspace ‘chambers.’ Each chamber is a world unto itself, but each chamber has portals to every other chamber, forming a fully connected lattice. As a work, it is non-hierarchical, non-teleological, and inherently open-ended. A person navigating through these chambers is free to explore a series of landscapes and to discover their apparent or hidden features. It is unlikely that anyone, myself included, will ever exhaust the variety of subtle algorithmic wonders that may be encountered, since they are intimately related not only to the logic of their programs, but to the unforeseeable circumstances and patterns of each person’s passage through the spaces.” -M.N.
Supercircuits provides the world’s smallest video cameras, transmitters and recorders.
Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) was conceived of and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since its inception SRL has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product or warfare. Since 1979, SRL has staged over 45 mechanized presentations in the United States and Europe. Each performance consists of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators.
Tomorrow’s Women in Science and Technology (TWIST) was an Austin, Texas-based non-profit corporation. Their mission was to promote science and math education and career planning for girls and women. TWIST’s volunteer staff is composed of Austin-area scientists, engineers, librarians, business people, teachers, writers, artists, and parents working together to achieve TWIST’s goals.
Zilker Internet Park specialized in connecting both small and home businesses to the Internet.
The background material for this page is derived from an archived page on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Hexwalker was built from a kit produced by M & T Systems in Huntington Beach California.
The body is made of perforated circuit board material. It has three R/C type servos driving the legs and a Basic Stamp for a brain. Antennae on the front sense obstacles and, after a few steps in reverse, send the creature off in another direction. The method used to obtain the alternating triangle gait is ingenious in its simplicity in that it can do with three servos what usually takes at least three per leg.
Top-view of M & T Systems built-from-kit Hexwalker.
Top-view of M & T Systems built-from-kit Hexwalker.
Don Colbath holding the M & T Systems built-from-kit Hexwalker.
Don Colbath holding the M & T Systems built-from-kit Hexwalker.
Don Colbath, who built this kit reports, “I was not totally happy with the construction methods and materials used and decided to build my own body and legs to attach to the existing servos and brain. This has not turned out to be as easy as I imagined and my “Hexwalker Mark II” is still undergoing refinements. My ultimate goal is to enlarge my version to about coffee table size then later to a size that a person could take a ride on. Stay tuned for future announcements.”
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“Robot Invasion of Dobie Theatre” September 14-15, 1996
The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise (1951). 16mm print.
The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise (1951). 16mm print.
Forbidden Planet directed by Fred M. Wilcox (1956). 16mm print.
Forbidden Planet directed by Fred M. Wilcox (1956). 16mm print.
Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott (1982). 35mm Director's Cut
Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott (1982). 35mm Director's Cut
The Robot Film Festival will feature three films with the common theme of robots. From the 50’s era of classic sci-fi come the first two entries both of which will be 16 mm prints. The Day The Earth Stood Still is a 1951 release and is in black and white. Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray and directed by Robert Wise. Robert Wise directed dozens of pictures. An early example of his work was Born to Kill (1947). His later credits include The Andromeda Strain (1970) and Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979). “Gort, Klaatu Birada Nikto” is the famous line uttered in this film by Michael Rennie who plays Klaatu. (Or something very close to this line.) Gort is an extremely large and powerful robot with the ability to destroy the Earth. Michael Rennie is just along for the ride and to warn the citizens of Earth that they are not alone in the Universe.
The second sci-fi classic is Forbidden Planet a film in Eastman Color released in 1956. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter, Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Harry Harvey Jr., Earl Holliman, Morgan Jones, Jack Kelly , Roger McGee, and Peter Miller. Fred Wilcox’ other film credits include Lassie Come Home (1946) and I Passed For White (1960). Forbidden Planet introduced us to Robby the Robot probably the most recognized robot of the 50’s sci-fi movie classics. In this film Dr. Morbius (Pidgeon) and his daughter (Francis) insist on remaining on the relatively barren planet Altair IV. When a rescue mission arrives led by Commander Adams (Nielsen) Dr. Morbius warns them that their lives are in danger and that they should leave. They don’t listen and of course strange things begin to happen just like Dr. Morbius warned. Robby is pretty much just a household servant but he’s extremely loyal to his owners.
Both of these films will be shown on Saturday the 14th as matinees. The third film of the festival will be shown on Sunday afternoon. The Day The Earth Stood Still will be shown at 2:00 p.m and Forbidden Planet will be shown at 4:00 p.m.
Finally to cap off the weekend of the film festival and RoboFest 7 is perhaps the best film about robots ever made. At least that’s our opinion anyway. Blade Runner the 1982 release directed by Ridley Scott will be shown in the 35 mm “Director’s Cut” version. This version is Scott’s vision for what Blade Runner should have been and not what was officially released that year. If you’re a fan of the original movie and you haven’t seen this version on the big screen – you have to see it now. Ridley Scott whose direction credits have included some of the most powerful films of the past two decades brought his dark foreboding vision of Los Angeles in 2019 alive in this film. With an exceptionally good cast of Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young , Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, and Joanna Cassidy, Blade Runner became a cult classic almost overnight. The story is based loosley [sic] on a novel by Philip K. Dick called “Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?”. The film screenplay was written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples and the haunting music score was composed by Vangelis. Ridley Scott’s other movie credits include Alien (1979), Black Rain (1989) and Thelma & Louise.
The robots in this film are actually called replicants or artificially created humans. These replicants are quite sophisticated and appear very human like; so much so that it takes a special trained police person with special tools to identify them. This kind of police person is called a “Blade Runner”. The reason the Blade Runner force exists is because of a nasty little incident where replicants killed humans. That of course violates Asimov’s robot principals and is just not acceptable behavior in a robot, therefore all replicants are banned from earth. They are now only serving as slave labor in off world colonies.
Deckard (Ford) is a retired Blade Runner who is forced back into action when 5 replicants, hijack a ship back to Earth with questions about their incept dates. The replicants want answers to the same questions we all want. “How long do we have to live?” “How can we live longer?” Rutger Hauer, Joanna Cassidy, Daryl Hannah and Brion James play the replicants who find life so precious that they risk meeting their maker.
For real hardcore Blade Runner fans, may we suggest that you read K.W. Jeter’s excellent novelized sequel to the movie adaption. Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human offers good insights to what might have happened after the movie. Another great book is Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon with behind the scenes coverage of the film from day one.
Blade Runner will be shown at 5:30 on Sunday afternoon. All of the films will only have one showing during the festival. Admission prices are $3.50 for each film.
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All of the discussions and panels for the guest speakers were hosted in the Speaker Room, Suite #130, in Dobie Mall on the Lower Level. Admission to the room was included with admission to the festival.
The schedule, like any, was subject to change; however, as of Friday 9/13/1996, this is what was confirmed for our line up.
The background material for this page is derived from an archived page on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Some links may have been added, removed, or updated.
