The 5th annual Robot Film Festival, after two years each in New York and San Francisco, is coming to Pittsburgh and the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville on Saturday.
The festival was founded by Heather Knight, a Ph.D. student in robotics, and Robotics Institute alumnus Marek Michalowski to celebrate robots, both on the screen and in performance.
This year’s theme is Robots at Work, including robots as strikebreakers, creative collaborators, replacements and as extensions of ourselves. The festival’s Headliner screening at 2:15 p.m. is a series of shorts from the New York Times called Robotica, featuring the diverse and rising contexts in which robots today are working. Screenings during the rest of the afternoon will include short films from around the world.
Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics, will present a talk on “Robots at Work” at 4:45 p.m. The evening program includes an awards ceremony. Robot and cyborg performances are scheduled throughout the day.
For the first time, the festival will include a Kid’s Edition, beginning at 10 a.m. This will include a performance by a robot comedian, short film screenings, live demos, a costume contest and the chance to interact with locally made robots. Screenings will include short films from the festival’s past years, curated by Knight.
More information is available on Facebook. Tickets are on sale at Eventbrite.