Early Signs of My Fascination with Robots: Part 1

The Dream

When I was in middle school, I dreamed that I made a friend with a robot in my middle school and spent the day with him, and then when it was time to go, I was sad because I was going to leave him and we already became friends. Could that be it? Could that be the basis for my fascination with robots?

Many years before this dream, I learned what a robot was from an electronic toy computer. This toy mainly taught spelling and math. But I first learned the word “robot” from this toy, and what a robot looked like. I was fascinated with the image; it looked like an alien from outer space but with square and rectangular body parts rather than round body parts. I knew that it wasn’t human. The robot had a square face and two antennae on its head, like a TV set. The antennae moved after it finished doing its dance (bend, stretch and jump).

I knew what a robot was when I was six or seven years old. The toy robot I drew for my second grade journal for school was definitely a robot. A small one, but, resembled a gold-colored robot with propellers on its head, a vertical, rectangular torso and wheels to get around. I forgot if it had a gun, but I drew it in the picture for 2nd grade.

So this dream that I had about the friendly robot at school must be the thing that sparked and strengthened my appreciation for the metal-man after the electronic computer and the robot toy. It is perhaps a deep psychological attachment to the type of thing that I befriended in the dream. In that dream it was possible for the robot to appreciate the company of human friends and be nice to them. In the dream he was nice to me and I admired his height and his strong metallic body, even protective if one could see that. A giant teddy bear, only it was a tall giant cube- bodied robot.

Early Signs: Japanese anime ASTROBOY

When I was either eight or nine years old, my father introduced me and my sister to an old Japanese anime series called Astroboy, a robot boy with emotions who tries to promote co-existence between robots and humans while fighting the evil robots. My dad had VHS tapes of some of the episodes. He used to watch it when he was a kid.  He wanted to share it with us, and right away we loved it.  He knew we would enjoy it because it was from Osamu Tezuka, the same creator for Unico.  Unico was the very first taste of Japanese anime I had, maybe at age 5.  But I’m rambling now…

It was so fascinating that this Astroboy kid was a robot who displayed emotions, and back then I wasn’t so conscious to the idea that sometimes he had to fight against his own kind.  It would not be that the “evil” robot was evil; its creator had built it for sinister intentions, so it is not the robot’s fault that it is evil. Astroboy sometimes tried to fight the robot and defeat it without destroying it.

I need to find which episode is a good example of what I am talking about.  It's been a while since I've watched anything Astroboy.  Mabye YouTube has something?  I may even need to watch the first few episodes of Astroboy again to find the example.  And one of these days I'd like to sit my bottom down and watch the 2004 Astroboy series.  In my opinion it is has a very different atmosphere from the black and white 1960s version.  The music is very sci-fi too, and I believe the animation is beautiful and colorful.

For now, enjoy the intro to the U.S. 1960s Astroboy :)

 

Early Signs: Cubix: Robots for Everyone

I used to watch this computer-animated cartoon show called CUBIX: Robots for Everyone.  I remember this show and I watched it when it started in the summer of 2001.  It has returned to air on Saturday mornings at 7:00am.

This cartoon is about a robot named CUBIX (he is made of cube-shaped pieces).  He is able to convey emotion through facial expressions. This is in a world where humans and robots coexist, robots of many different kinds.  It was a very colorful cartoon.  It's nice that it's coming back to TV again.

I'll try to catch an episode or two, if  I feel like getting out of bed at 7am on a Saturday morning, ha ha hah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubix

Google Image Search for CUBIX: Robots for Everyone

I found my drawing of my toy robot!

I said I would try to find the drawing of my old toy robot I did in second grade.

Ugh, my writing was so crappy at that age.  I'll transcribe it letter for letter (you can guess which words I spelled wrong).

Here it is:

If I could go to a toy

store and choose any toy I

wanted, I would choos a toy

robot, Because it's my faivriot

toy.  I like it. My sister likes it

too.

I just also want to say that the toy robot did not have the words "Super Robot" on its chest.  I wrote that in there because I wanted to be creative and give it a name.  Heh.  ^,^ 

Another Early Robot Fascination

     My sister and I had this toy computer that spoke and taught words and math. Two games in particular featured a robot that had two antennae on his head.

     “Make the robot move. Press the robot keys. Then press Enter."

     “Follow the robot. Press the robot keys. Bend. Jump! Stretch. Stretch. Jump! Bend. Kick. Jump!  Stretch. Kick.  Bend. Jump!” (Then I’d have to remember the moves and press the corresponding keys. I guess it was a memory game.)

     Eventually I had a dream about that same computer robot that took place in my middle school, and I was very happy and I didn’t want to leave him. The robot was my friend.  I wished it was real.

A Childhood Toy

When I was six or seven years old, I preferred toys that moved or made sounds. One toy in particular was a toy robot. It was gold colored, held a gun, and it moved. There were black propellers on his head.

I will try to find a picture of it I drew in second grade, because I don’t know what name the toy was given, and I believe I don’t have it anymore. But at that age I knew it was a robot.