U.S. Premiere

MECHANICAL LOVE, like the lifelike robots who star in the film, is an elegantly crafted work that poses fundamental questions:  How do we define life? And, as we harness the power of robotic technology to improve our lives, at what point do we disconnect from our essential selves, and each other?

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Japan’s Nagoya University heads an advanced robotics lab, where his team develops machines that mimic living beings, both animals and people. Beyond technological performance, they seek to create a sense of “sonzai kan,” or presence, the feeling of being with someone.

Half a world away in a German nursing home, an elderly woman gains comfort from Paro, a soft, white robotic seal with large, expressive eyes and the ability to murmur responses. She is cognizant that it is not alive, yet communicates directly with her intentionally infant-sized “pet.”

In another experiment, Ishiguro engages his daughter in a conversation with a geminoid (robot replica) of himself. The savvy 8-year-old won’t touch the robot—she senses the lack of “sonzai kan” and is too smart to be fooled by someone who looks and sounds like her father but doesn’t “feel right.” By contrast, the wisdom of elders allows them to knowingly suspend disbelief and feel an emotional connection with an inanimate object.

Such is the promise of technology: pets that don’t require feeding or get sick yet offer “real” connection, or the opportunity to truly connect with people via the Internet, no matter where they are. What makes love, or life, real?

—Patricia Finneran