PHILADELPHIA – An Academy Award-nominated movie is casting a bright spotlight on an unusual machine at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
The science museum’s 200-year-old automaton is a mechanical doll animated by a complex system of motors and cams. It can write three poems and draw four pictures.
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Martin Scorcese’s movie “Hugo” is nominated for 11 Academy Awards including best picture. The story has a similar machine playing a key role.
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The film itself is based on Brian Selznick’s award-winning “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” an illustrated novel about a Parisian boy and a broken automaton with a secret buried inside its mechanical memory.
The author visited the Philadelphia automaton while researching his book.
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