The last find in the folder rescued during the move-out from the old Robohut in February 2005 is a postcard advertising RoboFest 7, i.e., seeking additional funding for the event held September 14-15, 1996 at the Dobie Mall.
The gentleman pushing the shopping cart is unknown to me but he was someone known to members, Tom Davidson and Sonia Santana. It would appear that he is ‘dumpster diving’ (a technique to rescue from the municipal waste stream useful electrical, electronic, and mechanical components to repurpose into robots or robotic art).
In his shopping cart of goodies can be seen the Babbling Head (eying the gentlemen pushing the cart), Tai Chi Charlie (articulated arm above and to the left of Babbling Head in the photo), and the torso of a member of the Megabot Army.
On the reverse side of the postcard a small inset photo shows the Babbling Head admiring Tai Chi Charlie. The remainder is a plea for funding.
This will be my penultimate post concerning the folder rescued during the move-out from the old Robohut in February 2005.
This RoboFest 7 bumper-sticker reveals something about a couple of exhibits from the September 14-15, 1996 show. Once again, Brooks Coleman’s Mechanical Pitbull can be seen front-and-center. Around that are sketches of what I first though were bombs being dropped. Actually, those are the remote-control hydrogen-filled Cybernetic Airships that thrilled attendees.
RoboVision was a quick virtual reality (VR) project by Tom Davidson and Sonia Santana. The aim of the project was to provide attendees at RoboFest 7 a feel for what a robot’s vision might be like.
The project’s components were two VictorMaxx Stuntmaster VR headsets which had their video inputs wired to Supercircuits microcameras. The Stuntmaster had a single camera screen. The microvideo camera was mounted on the outside of the head gear with the battery power unit worn as a belt pack. An on/off timer switch was been wired to the helmet to allow more participants equal access. The entire head unit was covered with a cardboard mask design similar to that of the Megabot Army for a cool robot head appearance.
There was ample room in the head gear to allow for downward vision so that the person wearing the helmet could walk around and avoid tripping over stuff. The camera images that were projected into the headset screen were feeds from various mobile robots such as Commander Salamander and Mobile Platform and Dweebvision.
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.
“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.
The background material for this page is derived from an archived page on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The text of the original has been preserved without editing for spelling or grammar. Some links may have been deleted whereas the others may have been updated.
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.
Susan Alexander‘s Cartwheels Gizmo Box is a collection of characters mounted on rotating shafts. As they turn, they appear like circus acrobatic clowns performing for an audience.
Detail of Cartwheels Gizmo Box by Susan Alexander
Susan has also designed another performance piece called Nervous People which are characters on radio-controlled platforms that move around stage briefly and then “spaz out.”
The Cartwheels Gizmo Box and Nervous People were exhibited at RoboFest 7.
These pieces are part of a series of theatrical robots and performance art being designed for stage performance. Brooks Coleman is directing the robot theatre movement.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : The Robot Group P.O. Box 164334 Austin, Texas 78716 512-288-9135 http://www.robotgroup.org robo@robotgroup.org
We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to bring you an important announcement. Local city officials were notified today of an impending invasion. The group claiming responsibility for the warning is none other than The Robot Group. The group made up of artists and engineers has quietly gone about creating robotic art forms for over seven years without incident. The Robot Group a local hi-tech arts organization well known for its annual technology festival RoboFest and as yet has no confirmed connections to terrorist groups. There are few details about the invasion other than a specific time frame.
The invasion is scheduled to begin on September 14th and will target the University of Texas area. There are unsubstantiated rumors that the invading force will use robots to conquer the Dobie Mall tower. The Robot Group would not comment on this rumor fearing retribution from the “outside force”.
The Robot Group claims that they are not responsible for the immanent [sic] invasion of Austin and are simply acting as the conduit for this warning. The group claims they were contacted and infiltrated by “outside forces” earlier this month. “These outside forces are way outside of our normal sphere of influence” claim the group “but they are forces that we have no control over”. The group would not elaborate on how this “outside force” made its initial contact or how they have taken control of The Robot Group. They could only add that the warning about the upcoming invasion was all that they could safely communicate.
The threat to Austin citizens and property is minimal as long as we cooperate they say. “Our cooperation is really quite simple. The only thing the invaders require is attendance to this year’s RoboFest” the group went on to say. For some unspecified reason this controlling outside force is demanding that thousands of Austin citizens be in attendance for a special message on September 14th and 15th. What will occur if the demands of the invading force are not met remains to be seen. The Robot Group claims that the “outsiders” have the ability to watch us constantly and that they know our every move. As proof of their ability to watch us closely from the sky, the invaders have commandeered one of the group’s blimps and will use it to monitor the invasion from the airspace around the Dobie Mall Tower.
Robot Invasion of Austin
It’s coming : the time to bias your transistors and heat up your resistors and march to RoboFest 7. The Robot Group will be hosting their seventh annual technology festival on September 14th and 15th in the Dobie Mall. This year’s festival will be the entertainment event of the year for robots and robot lovers of all ages.
The Robot Group wants the City of Austin to be recognized as the “Robot Capital of the World” and this is the first step in gaining that well deserved recognition. Every year the group assembles and re-assembles the dozens of robotic creations, that have graced the pages of Newsweek, Mondo 2000 and Fringeware Review, specifically for RoboFest. This year the robots are going back to school. RoboFest 7 will be held in Dobie Mall a stone’s throw away from the University of Texas and will feature many guest speakers and exhibits from our prestigious University. In addition the group’s most recent creations will continue to amaze the Austin audience. Plans for this year’s RoboFest include an outdoor flying blimp, a hexapod walker, an army of cardboard robots, and RoboVision a new telepresence application using video feeds from the outdoor blimp.
This year’s festival also includes a tie-in film festival with a robotic theme. The Robot Group will be presenting three classic films in conjunction with RoboFest. The film festival will be showing at Dobie Theatre which is also located in Dobie Mall. The films are two 50’s era sci-fi classics “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “Forbidden Planet” and the ‘82 mega cult classic “Blade Runner”. The “Blade Runner” print will be the 35 mm Director’s Cut of the film and it will close both the movie festival and RoboFest 7. Admission for the two day festival is $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for children. The films will each have an admission price of $3.50. One hour free parking is available in the Dobie Mall parking garage located on Whitis Street across from Dobie Mall.
Resistance is futile Austin will be invaded come September. Join us or you’ll regret it.
Editor’s note : The text of the original press release has been preserved without editing for spelling or grammar. Some links have been deleted whereas the others have been updated.
