Movie Magic Meets Practical Robotics for Netflix’s The Electric State

Dennis Hong, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at
the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered a love of
robots at an early age while watching the “droid” characters in
Star Wars. As director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at
U.C.L.A., Hong has worked on functional humanoid robots for tasks
such as firefighting and disaster relief. Then the Russo brothers
came calling. To promote their new Netflix movie The Electric
State, film directors Anthony and Joseph Russo wanted to move
beyond CGI and create a version of the lead robot, Cosmo, for
events. Hong joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss the challenges of
blending practical robotics with a Hollywood vision. You can watch
The Electric State on Netflix. Recommended reading: Scientists Are
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Were Actually People  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if
you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should
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newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman,
Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This
episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex
Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and
Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
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