The Truth About Killer Robots

When a robot kills a human, who takes the blame? An eerie, eye-opening work of science nonfiction, The Truth About Killer Robots considers several automation cases, from a factory in Germany to a bomb-carrying police droid in Dallas, raising questions of accountability and morality. Exploring the provocative viewpoints of engineers, journalists and philosophers, the film goes beyond sensational deaths to examine more subtle but pervasive ways that robots affect humanity. Narrated by Kodomoroid, a lifelike Japanese android, The Truth About Killer Robots focuses on the growing use of robotics in manufacturing, the service and life-and-death policing matters. The film visits Germany, China, Japan and the U.S. to gain insights into the ways robots are impacting jobs across cultures. Still, the gravest threat to humanity goes beyond job displacement: As humans adjust their lives to the rhythms of machines, their faculties atrophy, and human connection becomes ever more remote. The Truth About Killer Robots features provocative observations from: Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of ethics and computational technologies at Carnegie Mellon; Marios Savvides, director of biometrics research at Carnegie Mellon; journalist Sven Kuhling, who covered the death of a worker caused by a robot at a Volkswagen factory; entrepreneurs Julia Collins of the pizza startup Zume and Tim Hwang of the law firm Robot, Robot & Hwang, both of whom have embraced robotic partners; noted Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro; and philosopher John Campbell.