"Spare Parts" in theaters nationwide Jan. 16!

[Brandon Martus]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/graphics/spareparts.jpg

Spare Parts stars George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marisa Tomei and Carlos Pena Vega.

Here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOLwIIHuCs

It is based on the wired story by Joshua Davis: http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/robot.html

ABC Nightline also covered the story back in 2005: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDot3B--wNk

There is also a documentary that came out last summer: http://www.underwaterdreamsfilm.com/

More background:

The movie is about a FIRST robotics team, Team 842 Falcon Robotics and HOF team.
All the ROVs or movie bots will built and operated by three FIRST teams, Team 39 members and alumni, Team 1726 members and alumni and current Team 842 members.
Team 842 credits being in FIRST robotics for two years as the reason as to why they were able to perform so well in the competition.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Wouldn't it make more sense to release this movie NOT during robot build season so all us robot people can actually have time to go to the movies???

- Still going to go see it
-- Team Field trip...?

[Foster]

I'm looking forward to seeing it. Is there an update in the movie on what's going on with Cristian, Lorenzo, Luis, and Oscar?

[falconmaster]

Wouldn't it make more sense to release this movie NOT during robot build season so all us robot people can actually have time to go to the movies???

- Still going to go see it
-- Team Field trip...?

I totally understand, Its in the middle of our building season too! That is a decision that was out of my hands...Hollywood has their logic and this was it. Its only a couple of hours, you might be able to squeeze in somewhere between Friday the 16th and Sunday the 18th.....

[falconmaster]

I'm looking forward to seeing it. Is there an update in the movie on what's going on with Cristian, Lorenzo, Luis, and Oscar?

Yes it briefly does but there is a more in depth explanation in the book Spare Parts http://www.amazon.com/Spare-Parts-Undocumented-Teenagers-American/dp/0374534985

[Racer26]

Is there anywhere where there is a listing of the theaters which will be showing it?

Looking around, I can't find one within about 100mi of Toronto that is.

[jhaugen]

One of 842's mentors is from Canada and asked the director about Spare Parts showing in Canada. The initial response was they aren't sure of the date as of now, but it will be released there as well.

[falconmaster]

Is there anywhere where there is a listing of the theaters which will be showing it?

Looking around, I can't find one within about 100mi of Toronto that is.

theaters around here are saying it will be listed on Wednesday......

[MrForbes]

...someone has to say it...

Water Game!

[Briansmithtown]

this is the story of the 2016 watergame... they will show it as next years kickoff..

[CatHerder]

Actually there are 4 FRC teams involved. The Bit Buckets, FRC #4183, is listed twice in the movie credits. Our underwater robot Tribble is an extra in the film. Our coach David Forbes is listed by name in the credits as a robot maker for his part building the robots used in the competition, as a member of the Typewriter Repairmen, underwater robotics team.

FIRST experience ***definitely*** helped make this magic happen.

Also, I've seen the film and it is WONDERFUL!!!! Go for sure, and bring your teams, and fill the theaters. This is a win for all of us.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Wouldn't it make more sense to release this movie NOT during robot build season so all us robot people can actually have time to go to the movies???

- Still going to go see it
-- Team Field trip...?
It all may be part of an Oscar run for the producers, film company or director. We are just a small fraction of the audience they hope to get. I personally want to see this get a lot of recognition. It shows a great team and some pretty cool mentors. Congratulations to all who were involved.

[Foster]

I think this is the perfect time to show this. You are knee deep in build season. All of your friends are going "All this time spent working on a stupid robot?? Really?!?!?"

Send them to see "Spare Parts". From reading the story and seeing the trailer I'll bet that it will change their view.

Plus if every FRC/FTC/FLL/VEX/Botball/etc. roboteer convinces three of their friends to go it will be the blockbuster movie of January :eek:

[BitTwiddler]

I just now found out that the four students featured will be the topic of tomorrow's (Wednesday) Diane Rehm show on NPR. The main focus will likely be on the immigration status of the students at that time and their pursuit of the American dream.
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-01-14/joshua_davis_spare_parts_four_undocumented_teenage rs_one_ugly_robot_and_the_battle_for_the_american_ dream
It will be aired at 11 am EST.

[falconmaster]

Actually there are 4 FRC teams involved. The Bit Buckets, FRC #4183, is listed twice in the movie credits. Our underwater robot Tribble is an extra in the film. Our coach David Forbes is listed by name in the credits as a robot maker for his part building the robots used in the competition, as a member of the Typewriter Repairmen, underwater robotics team.

FIRST experience ***definitely*** helped make this magic happen.

Also, I've seen the film and it is WONDERFUL!!!! Go for sure, and bring your teams, and fill the theaters. This is a win for all of us.

Sorry I missed you!! I am racing to keep up with all the media!!!!!!!

[falconmaster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHylF2kjAJ8

Here is an interview to see

[Rosiebotboss]

Ok, I give up.

Fandango search does not show a single theatre in CT or MA where Spare Parts is showing. What am I missing?

[falconmaster]

Ok, I give up.

Fandango search does not show a single theatre in CT or MA where Spare Parts is showing. What am I missing?

we are being told that theaters will put up the showing on Wednesday.... Can't find any times in Phoenix for Friday either....

It should be there....I am told.....

[falconmaster]

Another great video

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/george-lopez-every-dream-matters-383702083597

[falconmaster]

Senator Durbin about Oscar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GepDqri598o

[falconmaster]

Theater listings from panteleon Films

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44TPv-TccPZYy1uVnFLaE1TaDA/view?usp=sharing

[Taylor]

Sweet! It's on the south side of Indy! Thanks for the link!

[nighterfighter]

Theater listings from panteleon Films

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44TPv-TccPZYy1uVnFLaE1TaDA/view?usp=sharing

Awesome, it is coming in a theater near me.

Do you know what the red highlighted lines mean?

[Whippet]

Cool, it's showing in my local theater! Thanks!

[ElvisMom]

Not local, but close enough for a road trip!

[nighterfighter]

AMC theaters have posted their showtimes for Spare Parts on Friday.

[philso]

The "Dianne Rehm Show" has a story about the movie today on the radio. The show is playing now, with a story that is not so uplifting. It may be possible to listen online afterward.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-01-14/joshua_davis_spare_parts_four_undocumented_teenage rs_one_ugly_robot_and_the_battle_for_the_american_ dream

[Foster]

Looks like they were in the 11-12 (EST) slot

Link to the Diane Rehm Show (http://thedianerehmshow.org/audio/#/shows/2015-01-14/joshua_davis_spare_parts_four_undocumented_teenage rs_one_ugly_robot_and_the_battle_for_the_american_ dream/@00:00)

I thought it was pretty interesting

[Rosiebotboss]

No showings within 100 miles of Rosie's House...:(

[Mike Marandola]

No showings within 100 miles of Rosie's House...:(

Not even the Boston or CT theaters?

[Neima]

Minnesota has it at a couple different theaters!!
http://www.fandango.com/spareparts_172386/movietimes?location=55346&date=1/16/2015

[falconmaster]

Here is the Spare Parts Face Book stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/SparePartsMovie
Lots of media!
Here is my Face Book
https://www.facebook.com/faridodin.lajvardi.9
Even more junk!

Its hit theaters tomorrow!

[falconmaster]

Josh's Book is out there as well. Its a nice companion to the movie!
http://www.amazon.com/Spare-Parts-Undocumented-Teenagers-American/dp/0374534985

[xitaqua]

This is really weird, I cannot find any movie theater in Missouri showing this movie......

[MrForbes]

Yeah, it's weird! Here's the list, in one long image, arranged by city, in a few columns.

http://selectric.org/nerds/SPThtrs.jpg

[xitaqua]

You must not be serious !. They are not showing in St. Louis ?

Championship in St. Louis and you are not showing it ????????

[MrForbes]

The plan I heard, is to release it in more cities if it does well this weekend. So, if you want to see it in your town, get your friends who live where it IS showing, to go see it, and get their friends to go too. Big numbers this weekend = more theaters showing the film.

[Rich Wong]

We saw a special showing of Spare Parts movie last night compliments of NYCFIRST!
The movies is great; funny, accurate, moving, reminds me of my past experiences mentoring urban city teams.

It is definitely worth seeing if you help any experiences with FIRST.

[nighterfighter]

I just got out of the theater. Amazing movie.

Sadly there was only one other person in the theater...

Definitely worth the drive to go see it.

[mrnoble]

most of my team is going tonight after build. looks great!

[Whippet]

I just got out of the 10:00 showing at my local theater. The showing was a full house and my family had a hard time finding seats. Not bad for a city that claims to revolve around conventional sports.

[falconmaster]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=894359953932265&set=a.208441292524138.55988.100000748051147&type=1
This picture was taken at the theater right before we saw Spare Parts The young man to my left is Jorge Hurtado. He used to rub cross country for me 20 years ago....now he has a family. wife, kids, the whole shebang! I am getting old.......

[falconmaster]

From the LA premiere. Meeting Marisa Tomei and Jamie Lee Curtis https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HPndvReca24/VLBtc1gifYI/AAAAAAACMTE/hzumQ5HR2dA/s912/DSCN3355.JPG

[falconmaster]

Me with George! https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9D4ok5oLXtI/VLBuIrB_NkI/AAAAAAACMVc/QnUH-BWiTMc/s912/DSCN3378.JPG

[falconmaster]

Allan and I with the director Sean MacNamarahttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--rSrbq099rw/VLBuqeOq_4I/AAAAAAACMXQ/mpjwJe5knyA/s912/DSCN3393.JPG

[M.Kong-Sivert]

My team went to see it last Friday, and we loved it. Were we supposed to notice the digital sidecar on Hayden's robot? The people on my team turned to each other and whispered, "Foreshadowing!" when we saw that.

[lgphoneeric]

Saw the movie last night and it was great! Definitely a movie that all first people as well as everyone else needs to see. I liked the FRC digital side car. My only wish is I would have liked to see how it works out that 842 was a team 2 years before this event. Because if the 4 kids were new that year, where was the rest of the team. If anyone could explain that, that would be appreciated.

[sergioCorral842]

Saw the movie last night and it was great! Definitely a movie that all first people as well as everyone else needs to see. I liked the FRC digital side car. My only wish is I would have liked to see how it works out that 842 was a team 2 years before this event. Because if the 4 kids were new that year, where was the rest of the team. If anyone could explain that, that would be appreciated.

Well, some things were changed to make the movie more "interesting". 842 started back in 2002, and not everyone was interested in the underwater aspect of robotics. I know that Fredi Lajvardi's Marine Science class had something to do with this competition, where I believe some of the 4 boys were in his class and needed some credit of some sort. From what I was able to find on 842's website (there are pictures of every one of their seasons) Christian started in the 2003 FRC season (2 seasons of FRC before underwater contest), and Lorenzo started in the 2004 FRC season (1 season of FRC before underwater contest).

Also from a similar experience the past 3 years, the team tends to shrink when it is time to work on our underwater robot during the summer. This is also visible on 842's website. There are 2 different sections (FRC and underwater) on the website and looking at the pictures, there is a huge difference in the amount of people comparing the two.

The general story of Spare Parts is true, but some details were changed according to how the producers wanted it. That is how Hollywood works :rolleyes:

I am sure Fredi Lajvardi can give more insight on this subject.

[lgphoneeric]

Thank you, that helps. I kinda thought Hollywood changed some things but thanks for explaining it for me.

[Sperkowsky]

Saw it yesterday it was great

[vhcook]

This is really weird, I cannot find any movie theater in Missouri showing this movie......

This won't help you much since it's the wrong side of the state, but its playing at AMC Barrywoods (near the airport) and the Cinemark on the Plaza in Kansas City. I went up north to see it this afternoon. Time well spent.

[seg9585]

Saw the movie last night and thought it was great! Do have a few questions though, for those more familiar with (or part of) the true story. I don't want to put spoilers here though, is there another thread for this?

[MrForbes]

I don't think there's another thread, but if you PM me I might be able to answer your questions.

[Taylor]

About 30 of us went Saturday evening to see it - team members as well as friendswithrobots. Cute movie; the adaptations made tended toward propelling the storyline and were not distracting. We're really hoping it goes to a wider distribution.
It bears noting that the characters (or composite characters) are very loosely based on the real individuals. I found it interesting that the four boys' names were kept. The epilogue was a nice touch as well.
How similar to the real campus were the "Carl Hayden HS" shots?

[MrForbes]

As similar as a HS campus in Albuquerque is to a HS campus in Phoenix :)

[MrForbes]

Do have a few questions though, for those more familiar with (or part of) the true story. I don't want to put spoilers here though, is there another thread for this?

The best way to learn about the true story, is to read the book. Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis, 2014.

[falconmaster]

The distribution expansion really depends on opening weekend. That is what the movie people are telling me. With American Sniper making a huge hit at the box office it doesn't seem likely Spare Parts will expand to more theaters....Rotten Tomatoes has audience score 95% that basically means everybody likes it. The critics at Rotton Tomatoes are mixed.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spare_parts_2015/?search=spare%20parts
One of the common complaints of the critics is that the story is a cliche. I guess I lived through a cliche.........What is really important is the people like it and that is all that matters. That means it will be around a long time and many, many people will get to see it!
On a side note, The sound track for the movie is now out and available at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Spare-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B00SBGHX8C

[philso]

One of the common complaints of the critics is that the story is a cliche. I guess I lived through a cliche.........What is really important is the people like it and that is all that matters. That means it will be around a long time and many, many people will get to see it!

Chariots of Fire also has a cliched story...

My son and I just came back from seeing Spare Parts and we liked it. There was probably about 12-15 people in the theatre. That seemed to be on par for a Sunday evening. There was a similar number watching the other movies, excepting the one showing a "blockbuster".

Did anyone else notice in the epilogue section the note about Fredi and his team beating the MIT team 2 more times?

[falconmaster]

From Frank Nueperger, team 39, screen shot of the credits showing his team members
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10915116_10152848542048241_3292820716054533074_o.j pg

[Frank Neuperger]

Just a bit of information regarding Team 0x27. The best description is a community robotics team.

All but one student that helped with the build were alumni of FRC 39 or current FTC 4314. Several have helped with FRC 842 as well.

Team 0x27 was created in 2008 to compete in NURC in the summer. There was a Team 39 policy at the time that did not allow us to use any connection to that team number for summer activity. So the programmers among you will understand why we picked Team 0x27.

A bit over half of the students that helped with the 5 week design/build for the film ROV are studying engineering at ASU or ASU/Polytech. 4 have have now graduated.. One is still in high school and will attend ASU next year.

Team Ox27 competed with great success in 2008, 2009 and 2010 NURC with ROV builds in ridiculously short periods of time. In 2012 they crushed the Sparkfun AVC event record. There are a number of 0x27 videos on YouTube.

Frank

[Frank Neuperger]

Team 0x27 is best described as a community robotics team.

All but one student that helped with the build were alumni of FRC 39 or the current FTC 4314 team. Several have helped with FRC 842 as well.

Team 0x27 was created in 2008 to compete in NURC in the summer. There was a Team 39 policy at the time that did not allow us to use any connection to that team number or name for summer activity. So the programmers among you will understand why we picked the name Team 0x27.

A bit over half of the students that helped with the 5 week design/build for the film ROV are studying engineering at ASU or ASU/Polytech. 4 have have now graduated.. One is still in high school and will attend ASU next year.

Team Ox27 competed with great success in 2008, 2009 and 2010 NURC with ROV builds in ridiculously short periods of time. In 2012 they crushed the Sparkfun AVC event record. There are a number of 0x27 videos on YouTube.

We will post a summary of the design build process for the Cornell ROV for the film as well as a few pictures during fabrication.

Frank

[Frank Neuperger]

A few pictures of Team Ox27 working on the movie ROV as well as a bit of the development story.

We were approached by Fredi in early summer 2013 regarding building an ROV to play one of the top contenders. As it turns out, the final school name for our ROV was not finalized till we were actually on set doing final cosmetic touches on the ROV's.

Additionally, The Typewriter Repairmen (associated with Nerds FRC 1726) as well as Falcon robotics (FRC 842) would also be building ROV's for the film.

The requirement was for each group to build 2 identical ROV's to play the top teams. One would be a spare as to not hold up filming if there was a failure on the one that was in use. Falcon would also build "Stinky" models at various levels of completion.

The special effects people had said they could only build prop ROV's that the divers would have to puppet. The 3 experienced build groups were approached because the film people wanted highly functional ROV's to give extra realism to the film. Because it was unprecedented not to have professional film industry builders to this, the insurer of the film would not sign off on the policy until they saw a demonstration of the ROVs in the water. It was a big plus that we had experience building highly functional machines with 6 week schedules before.


With filming to start in October 2013, We did not however get the go ahead till ~ last week of August. We expected the the game to be similar to the original 2004 game but were not 100% sure if there would be any added tasks for the movie. Those details were still being worked out. So we started designing a competition capable bot for the tasks that we knew. Typical stuff. Grabbing things, measuring temperature etc. The producers, director and production designer made a visit to Falcon Robotics in Phoenix to meet the ROV builders and brainstorm the game tasks and robot requirements. That session was great fun working with a critical mass of creative people.

On top of the functional requirements, the Production Designer for the film had aesthetic requirements that forced building larger ROV's than we would build for this type of event. They did not want the ROV's to be dwarfed by the 50 foot long submarine that would be the main prop for the game. Past ROV's that we built for NURC were ~ 18" x 24" x 12". These ROV's ended up 38 x 38 x 18".

We had never previously used graphics or paint for our competition ROV entries. We instead spent the time improving functionality. Yes, our past ROV's were really ugly. Not to say that other NURC teams did not have cool looking bots. The movie ROV;s however would have coordinated school colors graphics ... aesthetics. We underestimated how hard the production designer ( Rob Wilson King) would push on this to get it to his standards. The "Look" of everything in the film was Robb's responsibility.

Because I could not get back to PHX right away when we got the green light for the project, we basically had only ~5 weeks to get the ROV #1 designed and ready to ship for Oct 4, 2014. We had most of the ROV2 parts by that time as well.

After shipping ROV1, we worked for the next 2 weeks to finished ROV #2 to a higher level of aesthetics than ROV1. Then Borna and I drove it the ABQ set for filming. We spent a couple days on set getting both ROV's to the same level of updates and applying the Cornell cosmetics. We also had to make a physical addition that supported a plot element and this forced practice and learning the new handling characteristics of the ROV. We also built camera mounts for several other ROV's in the film.

With 5 degrees of freedom, a grabber and and some button enabled features, it took two of us to drive/control the robot for the film. The result was very smooth and precise.

The following pics are of some of the crew that built the ROV and you can see some of the parts that went into building it as well as a partial pic of the final product. The Cornell ROV can be seen briefly but clearly in the following videos.

For a moment,
You can see the robot at 0:18 and 1:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IthdmHTgmKw

Robot at 0:32
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOLwIIHuCs

Robot at 0:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHylF2kjAJ8

Time lapse video of frame building.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yvutqczg2366ent/ROV_Time_Lapse.mp4?dl=0


Pics During fabrication:

I could not make the "embed photo" scripting work properly (using dropbox urls for the photo's) so a decent collection of pictures is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tai3qqpbyjiepmu/AADdyM9uV6YU4FOKPpHVV9rwa?dl=0


A time lapse of Team 0x27 building a NURC ROV from scratch in 17.5 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv3hiGKKCic

[DavidGitz]

Very awesome movie. I had a question though. I'm assuming that the ROV that the team made was somewhat realistic, what was the need for the Digital Sidecar since they already had one of the old IFI boards which should more than enough I/O for their use. It also looked like the cable that they had to repair in one scene was going to the DSC, was that going to the IFI board? How did that work? Did you guys bit-bang a parallel port on the IFI board?

[MrForbes]

heh....the black case who's inside is shown in the movie, is a movie prop. It is not actually installed on a functional robot. The original 2004 Stinky used an IFI control system from a FIRST robot, with the robot controller in the black case, and the Operator Interface box on the shore control panel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnaV1Wg67Bo

The movie versions of Stinky have another enclosure inside the black case, and the black case is flooded. They use small speed controllers and a vEx signal splitter.

In case you didn't know it already, movies contain a lot of fakery. Most folks don't notice most of it. Most folks have no clue what all the parts in the black case in the movie actually do....every thing electronic is just a typical jumble of stuff to them, so when you're making a movie prop, you can just throw a jumble of stuff in there, and 99.99% of folks watching the movie will be satisfied that it really is the functional electronics to make a robot work!

Art is fun :)


edit: As an example of this, look at WALL-E, study him for a while, and tell me where the actuators are, that make him move.

[Christopher149]

edit: As an example of this, look at WALL-E, study him for a while, and tell me where the actuators are, that make him move.

But as counterpoint, you actually get to see some of Baymax's actuators.

[DavidGitz]

heh....the black case who's inside is shown in the movie, is a movie prop. It is not actually installed on a functional robot. The original 2004 Stinky used an IFI control system from a FIRST robot, with the robot controller in the black case, and the Operator Interface box on the shore control panel.

Ha, fair enough, I thought as much. Thanks!

[nixiebunny]

A great film! I thought the ending was a bit corny, as if such a thing could actually happen in real life. Oh, wait...

I was personally thrilled to see some of my creations in the movie, with at least bit parts. The Stanford and Duke ROVs were built by MrForbes, s_forbes and myself in 2009-2010 when we were the Typewriter Repairmen. The Duke one is shown on the URC wall sign as well. The Bit Buckets (4183) supplied an ROV named Tribble as an extra, but it didn't make the final cut. It is in one of the trailers for an instant.

[pikachuguy3389]

I saw the trailer before the game animation and instantly said, "i have to go see that".

[EricH]

I went to see it tonight, it's still getting a reasonable bit of audience where I went (~ 12-20 for an afternoon showing).

The folks sitting at the end of the row I was in were quite surprised at the story... so I naturally pointed them towards their local FRC team.

And yes, definitely a good movie.

[Michael Hill]

heh....the black case who's inside is shown in the movie, is a movie prop. It is not actually installed on a functional robot. The original 2004 Stinky used an IFI control system from a FIRST robot, with the robot controller in the black case, and the Operator Interface box on the shore control panel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnaV1Wg67Bo

The movie versions of Stinky have another enclosure inside the black case, and the black case is flooded. They use small speed controllers and a vEx signal splitter.

In case you didn't know it already, movies contain a lot of fakery. Most folks don't notice most of it. Most folks have no clue what all the parts in the black case in the movie actually do....every thing electronic is just a typical jumble of stuff to them, so when you're making a movie prop, you can just throw a jumble of stuff in there, and 99.99% of folks watching the movie will be satisfied that it really is the functional electronics to make a robot work!

Art is fun :)


edit: As an example of this, look at WALL-E, study him for a while, and tell me where the actuators are, that make him move.

You can't deny that movies/books/etc. don't inspire engineers to make some of the stuff seen in them, and driving development of new technologies. It's a two-way street. There are tons of examples of this happening. Robots being one of them. Also, hoverboards and a lot of field sensing stuff. Some of it is that a technical person will have a very basic idea of a technology, and artists use artistic license and do something with it, then that further inspires engineers to actually figure out how to do some of it. While a lot of technologies are fiction, people want them to be real, so it gets people thinking how it could actually be done.

[MrForbes]

Yup! STEAM is a neat thing.

(A is for art, if you're not familiar with the term)