Robots. A Speculative Compendium
Andreas Müller-Pohle’s Robots. A Speculative Compendium, of which Flusser Studies publishes an extract and three separate pictures, contains an introduction, an afterword and altogether fifty-five images each preceded by the name of a bot and a short explanatory text as to its functions and abilities. The sequence is alphabetical leading from the Anatombot to the Xraybot. Most of the bots look human or human-like, insofar as they have arms, legs and a head. Beside the Gastrobot, a waiter, there are also the paired system of the Couplebot, the cello-playing Stringbot, as well as a dandy, (Hubbybot) and a nurse (Medbot). Some have a recognizable human face like the Musebot, an embodied contemplative figure, and the Mimicbot, a humanoid robot that replicates postures and gestures. The Phantombot is a “semi-transparent humanoid robot capable of penetrating solid barriers through phase shifting.” Some bots reminded me of science fiction movies like the cyborg-warriors Warbot and Riotbot from Robocop, the Neptunebot from Alien or the Rocketbot from Ironman. Some bots are based on single parts of the human body like the Graspbot an “orbital manipulator” that looks like a gigantic flying hand (from the review published at the end of this issue of Flusser Studies).
