io9
Robots in science fiction TV and movies either move super gracefully, or slowly and jerkily, as if their joints need to be oiled. But I've never seen a robot that moves like the helper robot in Tomo, a Sundance-winning short film: angrily and spamodically, like a drunk person throwing a fit. Despite the fact that Tomo's name means "friend," and he's there to help you, he looks like a robot you wouldn't want to get within a hundred yards of. Tomo is being made into a full-length feature film. Click through for details, and a clip from the original short.
You see that? He looks really pissed off and hyper, like he's on a meth kick. I really want to see the full-length Tomo now. Tomo, directed by Paul Catling, is about a guy who crashlands on a barren ice planet. His only hope of rescue is the emergency survival robot, or companion, called Tomo. The man is wary at first, but learns to trust the robot and finds friendship — and humanity — where he least expects it. And the director says it'll be an "unflinching" look at our future relationship with technology. [Quietearth, via Avery Guerra]
You see that? He looks really pissed off and hyper, like he's on a meth kick. I really want to see the full-length Tomo now. Tomo, directed by 
Comments
It looks like Dog from HL2 except less dog-like and more drunken bum-tacular.
Wow.. looks interesting. It's nice to see more and more subtle, and sometimes less subtle science fiction creeping into the Sundance festival. Primer was great, and this probably will be too. I love the jesticular motions of the robot, and the writing on the tent.
He looks more like one of the Geth troopers from Mass Effect.
[images.wikia.com]
As long as "his" personality is a bit more cheery than Marvin's.
Otherwise, I'd probably give up on the rescue and just off myself...
Good movement by Tomo. Projects panic and anger well considering it's machine.
Working title for the movie '3 laws my ass...'
Very nice, looks promising indeed. :)
Barren planet with oxygen atmosphere. Earth didn't have one before photosynthesis. Reminds me of the movie Red Planet, which featured a hostile helper robot and contrived a breathable atmosphere for the stranded astronauts.
"C'mon man, lemme get a hit. I'll oil your chassis, I'll shine your hull. You know I'm good for it."
@Mathmos: First of all, most of Earth's oxygen is produced by algae. Second, how do you know that maybe that planet isn't just experiencing an ice age? The Earth's atmosphere didn't evaporate during our ice age, why should it necessarily do so during others? We were once an "ice planet too" lest we forget...
@Cin: Not trying to be a pain, just reacting to the word "barren", which implies no life. Algae use photosynthesis, though not necessarily with chlorophyl. And it did make me think of Red Planet.
Why do i feel like singing "Tomo arigato, Mr. Roboto"?
No one going to say it? fine
Tomo arigoto . . .
@Xenocidal Maniac: fie!
Whatever. Neil Blomkamp called. He wants his style back.
Bender, have you been jacking on!
@DeepFriar: LOL I couldn't stop myself from saying it!
@Cin: But your point is well taken, perhaps its a planet in an ice age.
@Log1c, knownspace: I immediately thought both those things. It's like Dog and a Geth got together and built themselves a robot child.
@tamoko: "Primer was great."
Understatement. Massive.
Tomo's movements remind me more of a baboon or some other primate. It's at once very, very familiar and out and out weird. I'd love to know what was the model for Tomo's style of movement. I don't mean copied either. It looks vaguely animal-like but then made jerky by mixing it with inhibitory and activating movements.
[farm2.static.flickr.com]
@Garrison Dean:
I agree. Tomo also looks like the Geth from Mass Effect.
OK, I get the little camera pod as eyes thing, but what's that think sticking out of its back?
@Log1c: o man Dog was awesome I love when you first get the gravity gun and you play catch with him......so much fun.....
Looks to me like Tomo's a little pissed. Maybe he's malfunctioning. Maybe he's annoyed that the human isn't helping setup the tent. Whatever the case, the way he picks up that tent pole at the end makes me think he's out to put a hurtin' on somebody...
@SpaceMonkeyX: Maybe it's anthropomorphizing? Tomo is neither human nor animal. It appears to be quintessentially human to see "humanity" where it is not: in the night time stars, in the workings of a machine, pareidolia, and so on. Tomo **looks** pissed therefore he must be pissed?
What if such a jerky mode of movement was shown to optimally combine energy efficiency with agility with strength? Would he still be "pissed" or just unnerving?
Wait, so someone made a short about a more violent Venture Bros.' Helper robot, and it's getting rave reviews and a lot of money? Jackson Publick is pissed. Or incredibly happy. Never know with him.
That thing is a Geth! Someone get the tungsten ammo!!
@SpaceMonkeyX:
I'm thinkin' he figures there's no way for the human to survive...so he's gonna put him out of his misery.
Definitely anthropomorphizing, but Tomo's movements to me look exactly like a human having an angry/panicky fit, a la Hicks in Aliens.
"Dammit! Why did we have to crash on a friggin' ice planet?! Damn tent isn't meant for this cold! All my servos are going to ice up! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
Nice looking design, pity about the music.
The programmers who worked on TOMO's behavior emulation were just too good.
"Oh, so Mr. Knowitall Meatbag's too good to accept my help, eh? Well, I'll show him!!"
@bob-kowalski:
I don't think we're imbuing this robot with any more human traits than it's programmer would have intended, in an effort to make it easier for a stranded, isolated human to interact with it.
Tomo has flipped its lid.
@z3rks: How much of that programmed interaction is what the programer intended [= GOD?] and how much is based on how humans "see" and interpret the machine's activities? I find it startling difficult to believe that a programmer or a team of programmers of such a complex piece of software can fully foresee all, or even a majority -- whatever that might mean-- of the machine's interactions with its environment. This is a problem that seems to be ignored all too frequently: one day in the far future these programming will be completely transparent with no unforeseeable consequences. And yes, the problem of programming a hyper-intelligent machine has made its appearence in sci-fi: 2001, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, and others that I can't think of right now. If Tomo has been programmed through the application of evolutionary principles to software design, then we are back to the original problem of whether Tomo is really angry or he only appears that way to us. I haven't seen the short film, only the clip provided above. I find Tomo rather unsettling. I fully agree with the post above: I wouldn't want Tomo within a 100 yards of me. Then again that might be how someone in Antiquity might feel about cars or televisions. What I do like, though, about Tomo is that he (potentially) reminds us how weird our technology is. The technology that we take for granted everyday.
ANGRYBOT SMASH PUNY TENT
I find the poor animation and compositing more unsettling. :-/
Its hard for me to be unsettled by robots unless they look like human skeletons (Terminator), look like floating squids with ton of eyes and miniture bug like arms on their face (Sentinels in the Martix).
Just like the robots in I am Legend this one, even with his movements, I don't find all that creepy. When they are made to be so humanoid in appearance I don't find them eerie.
Now that one clip I've seen on here before of that dog-like robot with the creepy legs walking in the woods and staying balanced after his maker kicked him. Now that was creepy.
@CargoCult: I agree the music was kinda weak in that clip. Sounded like it was made 20 years ago, but that may just be the quality of the clip.
What a surprise this guy worked on Cunningham's Bjork video. You know th one. All is full of lesbian robots. I love me some Bjork, btw.
@CargoCult: Here here. Mmmmmmmmm mocap und crappy match lighthing. Looks very "Iron Man Super Bowl Commercial" i.e. "We didn't have final renders so here's the low res. Come back later, kbai."
The motion acting needs work. I don't mean revert to a cliche, or worse look like someone doing 70s breakdancing (The Robot vs. a robot). But I think if there were strange stutters, something subtle in the motion to indicate this is a clearly a machine-being in distress, and not an actor throwing a hissy, then it'd be more unsettling and intriguing.
Still, like to see the next pass.
@z3rks:"... in an effort to make it easier for a stranded, isolated human to interact with it."
I'd much rather have a robot buddy like John in "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", an implaccable friend who helps me avoid destruction and gives its own life as he helps me across a lava flow while I'm riding on his shoulders. Now that's a robot pal!
@Josimba: there were robots in I Am Legend?
Tomo looks kind of like Hector from Saturn 3. Another 'droid with a bad attitude.
Klaatu barada nicto.
@Naikrovek: Only Will Smith.
Took me a few minutes to remember the title, but the plot description reminds me of "Enemy Mine."
My little robot friend has too many cpu cycles to waste outside of his direct programming directives... like too much time on his hands to waste of anger and frustration maybe. His cap is ready to explode.
Has anyone read the actual plot synopsis for this film on IMdB? It sounds a little bit disturbing.
I want to give that robot a hug and say 'suck it up princess'...
I have an observation: in the clip, when the robot is freaking out, you can clearly see some sort of large apparatus sticking out of the shoulder area on the robot. in the still shot at the top of this story, though, he doesn't seem to have that apparatus. I don't want to draw any conclusions, but the demeanor in the still photo doesn't look agitated at all. I wonder if they're at all related?
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