Automatic Everything

In 2009 everything is coming up robots, but is there still anything romantic about the man-machine?

"Terminator: Salvation" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" will both have giant robots smashing things up this year. The former will also have it´s own roller-coaster: "Terminator Salvation: The Coaster" will open at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. But -strange marketing ahoy- it will be a wooden coaster. So robotic!


Then there is the news that the re-make of "Tron" will have a soundtrack provided by Daft Punk. On a smaller level, Röyksopp´s next single -a duet with Robyn- will be called "The Girl and the Robot" and most recently every politician is eager to have a photo taken on which they generously reach out their hand to shake the mechanical extremities of some robot. Say hello to our new overlords.


Robots and art are always a good combination and now someone wrote the first robo-drama for humans and robots. The machines were supplied by Mitsubishi and judging from this still-shot, the whole thing looks very serious.


All this robo-love brings a few metallic words to my head: "I am your automatic lover. beep." Let´s have a few looks and listen to Dee D. Jacksons notorious, cheesy but groovy eurobo-hit "Automatic Lover". Any song that opens with the words "Love in space in time, there´s no more feeling" and goes on with immortal lines such as "He´s programmed to receive automatic satisfaction" is a classic in my book.



Dee D is/was a clever British girl who used to produce sci-fi short films and comissioned the fabled Giorgio Moroder and members of his Munich Machine to do some soundtrack work. From there she took the idea to produce a record which turned out to be the brilliantly titled "Cosmic Curves". "Automatic Lover" and the follow-up "Meteor Man", produced with Gary Unwin and Keith Forsey in Munich became world wide mega hits.


Today, Dee D Jackson lives in Italy and runs her own record label where she reportedly releases hip-hop and trance records. I was secretly hoping that she became a robotics scientist, but running a record label in sunny Turin is certainly not a bad career choice. It goes without saying that she has a superbly awful website, complete with badly scanned photos. Must visit!

Kinetica Art Fair

Carnivorous art, man-animal-machine hybrids, mechanical drawing machines, subliminal installations, pole dancing robots, light sculptures and cybernetics are some of the exhibits to be found at Kinetica Art Fair, the UK's first art fair dedicated to kinetic, robotic, sound, light and time-based art which runs from Feb. 27 through March 2nd in London.

Woof...hello, I am Rex! Woof woof...hello, I am Rex...

This perplexing video of "Big Dog", a walking machine, is currently all over the net. This must be the work of years and years of combined research of eager scientists financed by military funds.

Isn´t it kind of strange that the emotions that this extraordinary four legged machine evokes are more negative than positive? After short moment of admiration a feeling of creepiness and downright fear at the possibilities this robo-dog is capable of kicks in.
Sure, it could be helpful in many ways and terrains, but does anybody doubt the opressive use of "Big Dog"?

Even without any cuddly fur and some big soft eyes, "Big Dog" makes us believe that it´s alive! The way it moves on ice is just too familiar to be artificial.

Some have commented that they felt sorry for it, when it was kicked and tried to keep balance. I immediately expected it to turn around and go after the attacker!

Are we really so conditioned by watching sci-fi movies, or have we inherited the cynical approach that all new technology will be turned against its creators?

Maybe I followed the guys from Survival Research Laboratories for too long.