Cartoon Robots in ROBOT Magazine!

I recently read the May/June 2016 issue of ROBOT Magazine, and to my surprise (and overwhelming joy!) an article about cartoon robots was featured in the issue. The article is written by Brett Weiss, a writer and expert in Pop Culture related to video games, TV and movies and other entertainment.

Here are some of my favorite cartoon robots that he mentions:

• WALL-E
• The Iron Giant
• Astroboy
• Baymax
• Optimus Prime
• Gigantor

I had coffee when I read the magazine. So I dunno if I became super hyper because of the coffee or because I read that article, or because I did both. But I was fired up!

It may have given me the jolt I needed to return to updating Cybernetic Dreams at a more regular schedule.

Right now, I don’t have a defined schedule for posting for Cybernetic Dreams. It is my personal robot blog, after all. I seem to post when I feel like it. And I know that I should have a more regular schedule if I hope to gain and keep more readers.

Do I Want to Write for a Magazine?

I am considering writing for Robot Magazine.  I am not a robot builder, or an engineer, although I considered taking up a mechanical engineering major when I was too late.  But I like writing about robot-related things, robot-related topics, including cybernetic body parts.  But I especially love A.I.-based robots and want to read more about them.

One television show, called Extant, features an android boy named Ethan and he is what his creators call a “Humanich.” The story is not about robots—or androids—but I love how robot ethics plays into some parts of the story.  There are robotic machines in this show too, and recently we met a sweeper robot that is badly damaged—a result of robot abuse—and Ethan the Humanich feels sorry for him and wants to take him home.

It would be interesting to observe the different between how John the creator/father treats his “son” Ethan and how he treats the sweeper robot.  Very different.

I have yet to read more of the Robot Ethics essay collection, but I’d like to write an essay of my own.  I also want to connect the essay and the articles to different robot stories I’ve encountered, either in reading or in television, and especially, in the real world.

I recently started watching an old Japanese anime on the Internet, called Brave Police J-Decker.  The animation is old but it is a show with a good story.  Deckard is a big man-made robot who transforms into a police car (yep… a transforming robot, but not the Hasbro Transformers), and after befriending a boy, his A.I. systems developed a consciousness and a personality.  He is able to laugh and smile and frown.

My life changed so much since I started this blog in June 2010.  Priorities have changed but, I still want to keep this blog going.  It is important that I keep my fascination with robots, androids and cyborgs a strong presence, in case someone out there would happen upon it and would like to join in a conversation about the related topics.