University of Cambridge

The robot has become an iconic part of modern culture and celebrates its 85th birthday this year. The idea for the 'man machine' was coined in 1921 in the play 'RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots)' by Karel Capek, showing biological androids created without emotions to serve humans. The play, which will be performed as part of the festival, was inspired more by the machine-like role of factory workers at the turn of the 20th century than by the technological advances occurring at the time.

The familiar image of the metallic android sprang from other artists and film-makers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the 1927 German blockbuster, 'Metropolis'. The Cambridge Robot Project will be re-screening 'Metropolis' and other classic films about machines, including '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'The Matrix' and 'The Terminator'.

Prior to each show, there will be talks and panel discussions by invited speakers from across the UK on computing, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), film and arts.

One of the undoubted highlights of the project's photographic exhibition will be the chance to see images of Eva (pictured), the disturbingly lifelike robot head created by a University of Texas student in a bid to mimic human expressions.

Cambridge Robot Project organiser Kathleen Richardson, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, says her aim was to explore our humanity in an age when others think that the potential for creating artificial thought is challenging what it means to be human.

'Some experts want us to believe that being human is on its way out, and machines or robots are on their way in,' she explains.

'This pessimism isn't really about the technology itself, however - it's more to do with our understanding of what it means to be human and how we feel about ourselves.'

The Cambridge Robot Project film festival and art exhibition are on from 15-18 May. Performances of 'RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots)' run from 23-26 May.

All events will take place at Michaelhouse on Trinity Street, Cambridge. Tickets can be purchased for individual events, but a special two-week festival ticket (20, 15 concessions) is also available until Monday, 15 May; it includes entry to eight films, four short talks, four panel discussions and one performance of 'RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots)'.

For more information, visit or email Kathleen Richardson at kr242@hermes.cam.ac.uk. Tickets can be bought on the door at Michaelhouse or in advance by e-mailing Kathleen Richardson.

Image shows Eva, the Texan robot that can form realistically human expressions.

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For further information, please contact the University of Cambridge Press Office on 01223 332300


Reproduced courtesy University of Cambridge Press Office