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Slideshows
Monday, October 23, 2006
One bad head trip
Prized robotic head of late science-fiction writer and Santa Ana resident Philip K. Dick goes missing.
courtesy by GREG HARDESTY of The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – David Hanson lost his head.
He left it in a blue American Tourister roller bag in an overhead bin on an America West flight from Dallas to Las Vegas in December and is desperate to find it.
It's not just any missing head.
It's a state-of-the-art android likeness of the late science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick, whose writings spawned such Hollywood blockbusters as "Blade Runner," "Total Recall" and "Minority Report."
Whoever found Hanson's bag on the flight opened it and saw the blue, unblinking eyes of Dick's likeness staring back, his perfectly groomed goatee, and the skin-like substance Hanson calls "frubber."
The android head – which can make eye contact with people and believable facial expressions, and can even speak – is worth at least $50,000 and is the focus of a lawsuit Hanson filed this month in Orange County.
Although the Dallas-based graduate student and "roboticist" blames himself for leaving the head behind, the suit accuses America West of failing to deliver the head to him, as promised, after two crew members found it on the plane at John Wayne Airport.
Despite all the hearts that have been left there, Hanson's head never made it to San Francisco, he said – although the android's headless torso, shipped separately for a business meeting, did.
"I regret not having it tethered to me," says Hanson, 36, whose robotics work has been heralded at trade shows and in trade publications.
The android was poised to make his Hollywood close-up. Producers were thinking of using it in promotions for the movie "A Scanner Darkly," Hanson says. The movie, starring Keanu Reeves, is based on a Dick novel.
A spokesman for America West/US Airways said the airline is trying to find out what happened to the android.
"As with any lost item that is valuable, we'll continue looking for it," said Phil Gee, a spokesman for America West headquarters in Phoenix.
The airline has yet to see the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation, Gee said.
He said it was his understanding that the head made it to its final destination in San Francisco, after the plane made a stopover in Las Vegas.
Hanson can't fathom what happened.
"I have no idea where it is," he says. "It could have been destroyed. It could have been shuffled away somewhere. It could be sitting in some warehouse.
"I haven't been able to get any answers."
So, he sued.
His lawyer, Steven J. Freeburg, alleges that America West is liable because it had the head in its possession and misplaced it.
LONG HOURS
Hanson had been working long hours for weeks and had made two recent trips to South Korea when he boarded the plane, heading from Dallas to San Francisco, on Dec. 13.
He says he didn't know he had to change planes during the stopover in Las Vegas.
A flight attendant awoke him. In a daze, he grabbed his other carry-on – a laptop computer – and changed planes, completely forgetting about Mr. Philip K. Dick's head.
Hanson realized his mistake when he arrived in San Francisco and called the airline.
He says America West officials told him two employees found the bag in the plane after it continued on to Orange County, and put the head on a plane bound for San Francisco via Las Vegas.
He's been looking for the head ever since.
"I could replace it," he says, "but that would be like Picasso losing an original painting and then doing a replica.
"It's not the same."
Hanson's company, Hanson Robotics, founded in late 2003, has made 13 androids. The Dick android was its 10th and one of its most prized creations (others have included Albert Einstein, which he shows off on technology tours, and, for fun, Hanson's girlfriend).
Hanson and a team spent about six months making the Dick android, which had made several public appearances since debuting in June 2005.
"It's the most powerful work of art I've done," he says.
Hanson has a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and is working on his doctorate at the University of Texas in Dallas. He has sculpted for Universal Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering.
His "biologically inspired" robots are designed to model the behavior and movements of people so closely that they are virtually indistinguishable from their human counterparts.
courtesy photo of Hanson Robotics
HEAD MAN: David Hanson with the Albert Einstein-Hubo robot in Korea earlier this year. Hanson's Philip K. Dick android head was recovered but then lost by America West in December 2005.
Slideshows
Monday, October 23, 2006
One bad head trip
Prized robotic head of late science-fiction writer and Santa Ana resident Philip K. Dick goes missing.
courtesy by GREG HARDESTY of The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA – David Hanson lost his head.
He left it in a blue American Tourister roller bag in an overhead bin on an America West flight from Dallas to Las Vegas in December and is desperate to find it.
It's not just any missing head.
It's a state-of-the-art android likeness of the late science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick, whose writings spawned such Hollywood blockbusters as "Blade Runner," "Total Recall" and "Minority Report."
Whoever found Hanson's bag on the flight opened it and saw the blue, unblinking eyes of Dick's likeness staring back, his perfectly groomed goatee, and the skin-like substance Hanson calls "frubber."
The android head – which can make eye contact with people and believable facial expressions, and can even speak – is worth at least $50,000 and is the focus of a lawsuit Hanson filed this month in Orange County.
Although the Dallas-based graduate student and "roboticist" blames himself for leaving the head behind, the suit accuses America West of failing to deliver the head to him, as promised, after two crew members found it on the plane at John Wayne Airport.
Despite all the hearts that have been left there, Hanson's head never made it to San Francisco, he said – although the android's headless torso, shipped separately for a business meeting, did.
"I regret not having it tethered to me," says Hanson, 36, whose robotics work has been heralded at trade shows and in trade publications.
The android was poised to make his Hollywood close-up. Producers were thinking of using it in promotions for the movie "A Scanner Darkly," Hanson says. The movie, starring Keanu Reeves, is based on a Dick novel.
A spokesman for America West/US Airways said the airline is trying to find out what happened to the android.
"As with any lost item that is valuable, we'll continue looking for it," said Phil Gee, a spokesman for America West headquarters in Phoenix.
The airline has yet to see the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation, Gee said.
He said it was his understanding that the head made it to its final destination in San Francisco, after the plane made a stopover in Las Vegas.
Hanson can't fathom what happened.
"I have no idea where it is," he says. "It could have been destroyed. It could have been shuffled away somewhere. It could be sitting in some warehouse.
"I haven't been able to get any answers."
So, he sued.
His lawyer, Steven J. Freeburg, alleges that America West is liable because it had the head in its possession and misplaced it.
LONG HOURS
Hanson had been working long hours for weeks and had made two recent trips to South Korea when he boarded the plane, heading from Dallas to San Francisco, on Dec. 13.
He says he didn't know he had to change planes during the stopover in Las Vegas.
A flight attendant awoke him. In a daze, he grabbed his other carry-on – a laptop computer – and changed planes, completely forgetting about Mr. Philip K. Dick's head.
Hanson realized his mistake when he arrived in San Francisco and called the airline.
He says America West officials told him two employees found the bag in the plane after it continued on to Orange County, and put the head on a plane bound for San Francisco via Las Vegas.
He's been looking for the head ever since.
"I could replace it," he says, "but that would be like Picasso losing an original painting and then doing a replica.
"It's not the same."
Hanson's company, Hanson Robotics, founded in late 2003, has made 13 androids. The Dick android was its 10th and one of its most prized creations (others have included Albert Einstein, which he shows off on technology tours, and, for fun, Hanson's girlfriend).
Hanson and a team spent about six months making the Dick android, which had made several public appearances since debuting in June 2005.
"It's the most powerful work of art I've done," he says.
Hanson has a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and is working on his doctorate at the University of Texas in Dallas. He has sculpted for Universal Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering.
His "biologically inspired" robots are designed to model the behavior and movements of people so closely that they are virtually indistinguishable from their human counterparts.
courtesy photo of Hanson Robotics
HEAD MAN: David Hanson with the Albert Einstein-Hubo robot in Korea earlier this year. Hanson's Philip K. Dick android head was recovered but then lost by America West in December 2005.
It doesn't look at all like a real Hobbit.
