Forbidden  Planet
2006

Coolidge Corner Theatre Brookline, MA

with

Dr. Rodney Brooks

Former Director, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, MIT; Former Professor of Robotics, MIT; Founder of iRobot Corp; Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer, Rethink Robotics

Forbidden Planet— The Science of Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Brooks discussed artificial intelligence.

Coolidge Corner Theatre Brookline, MA

Film Synopsis

A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has.

In this sci-fi classic, loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a spacecraft travels to the distant planet Altair IV to discover the fate of a group of scientists sent there decades earlier. When Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) and his crew arrive, they discover only two people: Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter, Altaira (Anne Francis), who was born on the remote planet. The two have created an Eden-like world that is guarded by their obedient robot, Robby. Gradually, Adams uncovers the mystery of what happened on Altair IV, and why Morbius and Altaira are the sole survivors.

About the Speaker

Dr. Rodney Allen Brooks is an roboticist, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, author, and robotics entrepreneur, most known for popularizing the actionist approach to robotics. He was a Panasonic Professor of Robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is a founder and former chief technical officer of iRobot and co-founder, chairman, and chief technical officer of Rethink Robotics (formerly Heartland Robotics). Dr. Brooks is also known for his appearance in a film featuring him and his work, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control.