Many questions, concerns or preconceived notions float around about the role of robots in our society. A lot of speculation and fears are seen looming in the advent of these machines which will one day be capable of efficiently interacting with humans.
Year of the robot makes us observers of the empathy humans feel towards these humanoid machines.
At the intersection of art and science, Year of the robot depicts the human being and the robot as its artificial counterpart.
As a series of archival documents detailing the first contacts and dialogue between a robot gifted with an artificially created autonomy and human beings, it studies cognitive dissonance, a minute, mysterious relational space sitting between the two actors.
It involves elderly people sometimes afflicted with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or young adults with autism or neurological problems.
Once past the surprise phase and aware of the artificial nature of the robot’s functioning, the residents try, despite everything, to forge bonds with it.
This work was initiated during an art/science residency with Anne-Sophie Rigaud at Maribel Pino of the Lusage laboratory who work on the advent of social robots in the field of health. It is during this residency that the author has developed a working protocol allowing him to explore the strange, hard link to analyze relationship observed between a human being and the artificial object that is the robot.
The film was shot over two years in the geriatric medicine departments of Paris’ De Broca and De la Rochefoucauld hospitals, at Maison Ferrari EPHAD (nursing home) in Clamart, at the Weverbos and Toma Stena centers in Belgium
Author’s note
« Robotics research is gaining increasing importance in the field of health. Humanoid robots have already made their way in some French hospital departments. These robots raise positive emotions in patients. They help improve communication, social interaction and help reduce behavioral disorders. They can help improving the well-being during patient care. But indications, limits and ethical aspects remain open for discussion. Currently robots like NAO, which we follow in the film, can only simulate and engage in simple interaction — they are totally dependent on the person that directs them.
The film draws from fiction while being grounded in reality. The scenes it includes tells us of a future that is in turn desired, imagined, and sometimes rejected by our societies.
By pushing NAO toward a dreamed, idealized autonomy that is almost within reach, the film shows the fascination and, sometimes, the irresistible urge humans have to communicate with these machines.
These idealized relationships appear simpler, appeased in comparison with those they can have with their fellow humans. Even if the advent of the humanoid robots collides with the harsh economic, scientific and technical reality, the dream of having an artificial companion remains deeply anchored in our imagination. »
Yves Gellie
The director Yves Gellie
Yves Gellie was born in Bordeaux, France, on September 16th, 1953. After medical studies at the University of Bordeaux, he practiced tropical medecine in Gabon for two years. In 1981, He began a career in photo-journalism with a feature about cocaine production in Colombia, followed by a story about war refugees in Ogaden, Somalia. His work has been published by magazines and newspapers like Geo, National Geographic, Sunday Time Magazine, Le Monde…
From 1999, he has developed a work being between Documentary and Contemporary Art, with a style described as an iconographic selection of the reality underlying the dayto-day life and its trivial aspects. His work has been exhibited in various museums, galleries and institutions across the world.
From 2007, he undertakes a project on world of major scientific research laboratories dedicated to the development of humanoid robots and social robots.
In 2016, he started his new movie project Year of the robot. He joined Professor Anne- Sophie Rigaud’s team at the LUSAGE lab of the Broca hospital (Paris), which carried out a study on the insertion of social robots in the healthcare sector. With his groundbreaking working protocol supported by the scientific community, Yves Gellie gives the opportunity to grasp the fantasized relationships between the human being and the machine. This work foreshadows a future world in which mankind will grow closer to humanoid robots, making their dreams come true.
By enabling this little robot to reach a kind of autonomy, the artist introduces Nao as a pioneer, and as the first humanoïd to have established an intimate dialogue with the human being.
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Film credits
Author – Director: Yves Gellie
Assistant – Collaborator: Maxime Jacobs
Image: Yves Gellie
Lighting assistant: Alan Hajo
Sound recording: Maxime Jacobs
Editing: Thomas Lallier
Graphic design/VFX: Thomas Deyriès, Jérôme Gonçalvès, Maxime Jacobs and Nightshift
Poster: Marion Lavedeau
Sound designer: Eric Lesachet
Calibration: Davis Bouhsira
Executive Production: Camille Lacharmoise, Alexandre Brachet – Upian
