W.I.S.O.R. The Robo Welder Movie Review 2001

Documentary about the attempts to build a robot welder to unleash in the steam lines of New York City is interesting, but not as interesting as the history of the NYC steam lines that is told as a side bar to all the technology-intensive footage of W.I.S.O.R.'s creators. The steam pipes provide heat, steam, and hot water to many buildings in the city. The original lines were built in the 1880s and most of the pipes have never been replaced or upgraded. This results in the occasional steam explosion that destroys streets, tangles traffic, and sometimes, kills people. The goal of the team is to create a robot that will stop at each pipe connection, block off the steam and then make a new weld in the pipe. At the close of the documentary, the robot is not yet finished and the team is way over budget, but the project clearly should go on to its completion. This should be fun, educational, and generally interesting to anyone who watches the Discovery or History channel and engineers everywhere.

Distribution

New Video Group, 902 Broadway, 9th Fl., New York, NY 10010, Phone: (212)206-8600, Toll-free: 800-314-8822, Fax: (212)206-9001, Email: customersupport@newvideo.com, URL: http://www.newvideo.com

Available on DVD
Running time 75 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Screenplay

Gabriel Morgan

Cinematography

Michel Negroponte

Director

Michel Negroponte

Other

Tom Cross