I, Robot 3D: US Robotics NS-5 pictures and hands-on

Playing with the props

15 October 2012 10:31 GMT / By Rik Henderson

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To bolster the title range of Blu-ray 3D, and give more reason for consumers to adopt the format, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has spent a considerable amount of time and money in converting the Alex Proyas-directed movie I, Robot into 3D. And purely for a home release.
It will hit the UK on 22 October, and Fox invited Pocket-lint to visit its studios in Century City, Los Angeles, to see some of the footage, find out how the 2D to 3D conversion was performed and to play around with some of the props from the original film.
We'll be revealing all on the movie and the conversion soon, but in the meantime we thought we'd share with you how it felt actually handling and standing with genuine props from I, Robot - including a full-size US Robotics NS-5 robot.

For those who have yet to see the film - which Fox believes could be more than a few of you - the 3D release may be the first time you encounter it, so we'll not give too much away. Needless to say, there are plenty of robots and the NS-5 series appears throughout.
One of them, Sonny, is the main star of the movie, alongside Will Smith, and although the full-size NS-5 we encountered is the same shape and height, it was used mainly in background scenes and, because of the red light in its chest, clearly wasn't a stand-in for the lead robot itself.
The red light is the only interactive part of the model. It doesn't move and has only the one operable wire emanating from the rear, with a switch to turn the bulb on and off.

What we were massively surprised about, however, was how tall the robot stands. Without a measuring tape to hand, we'd have to take a guess that it's 6ft 3ins/6ft 4 from floor to the tip of its head. Will Smith is 6ft 1.5ins, so it would be taller than him.
It's also made of incredibly solid and well-constructed parts. You'd expect some corners to be cut for a background prop - spray-painted plastic rather than actual metal sections - but the materials used give the impression that this unit could be built for real one day.
The intricate detail, such as the small parts in the head cavity, is highly impressive too. And it's worth pointing out that the face recognition software on a smartphone's camera actually identified the NS-5 as a genuine subject. Indeed, it's a little bit unnerving the way the eyes stare at you.
It's an incredible piece that's now stored in the Fox Archives on the studio lot.

Also displayed purely for our visit were several other props from the film, including the police badge used by Will Smith as Detective Del Spooner. We also got to hold and wave around one of the guns from the movie which, while made of rubber, feels incredibly solid and remarkably heavy. The realistic weight would have made it easier to act with.
The smaller items may not have been quite as impressive as the full-size USR NS-5 robot, but they're just as detailed.
I, Robot 3D will be out on 22 October in both a Blu-ray 3D edition and Limited Edition featuring a life-size replica of Sonny's head.