Join the ImRo-lab team for our monthly presentation and movie screening, with a focus on robots in society. How is society equipped for handling robotic innovations? What challenges are societies facing when implementing robot technology? How should the relations between the user and the robot be? Such questions are problematized in several movies and popular culture. This monthly film forum will contain a presentation or discussion about social robotics, followed by a movie screening. Free popcorn for everyone!

This month’s Cyborg Cinema will start with a short presentation from Flávia Rodrigues, who is visiting us from Portugal. She is the Public Relations and Communication Manager at Cáritas Coimbra, and will talk about her experience with robot care for elderly in Portugal. This is followed by a screening of the sci-fi comedy-drama “Robot & Frank”, which is about the elderly Frank who teaches his robot companion to perform robberies.

Feel free to stay after the movie for further discussion and networking!

Please register here: https://www.ntnu.no/machform/view.php?id=312907

FILM DESCRIPTION

Robot & Frank tells the tale of Frank Weld, a former burglar who is now facing worsening dementia at old age. His home shows clear signs of negligence and his state of mental deterioration is severe. Frank’s son, Hunter, is growing tired of making weekly visits to his father, but respects his wishes to not be put into a full-time care home. Hunter decides to buy his father a robot companion to look after him, programmed to provide therapeutic care and reintroducing daily routines to Frank’s life. Frank is initially wary of the robot’s presence but soon discovers new ways of using the robot.