what a tough sell this film must have been : documenting the development of an engineering device that would automate the fixing of broken steam piping underground at the flip of a switch . set against the backdrop of other advances in technology , with a focus on what robotics has done for humans so far , w . i . s . o . r . may be smart , but does anyone care ? of course , we're supposed to care . after all , steam pipes burst all the time , flooding streets , exploding buildings , killing innocent people , and causing nasty traffic jams . these pipes date back to the early 20th century and it's time they got updated to the rest of civilization . so conedison ( purveyor of gas and electricity in new york city ) set honeybee robotics to the task of creating a device that would weld ruptures in underground systems with help of a human interface . it's no small feat , as it's never been done before , so there are no predecessors to work from , and even the schematics of the underground systems are questionable . it's a seemingly impossible task , even for a large corporation used to building robots for ibm . but it will happen , and the end result will be w . i . s . o . r . , or welding and inspection steam operations robot . michel negroponte , who came to understandable recognition after his successful debut with jupiter's wife , tries to make this subject interesting . it starts out with gusto , a short energetic cartoon of what w . i . s . o . r . will eventually do , brief shots of the men making it possible , and some horror scene news footage that prompted conedison to take action . but not halfway through the film , it is difficult to stifle a yawn . the engineers bounce scientific theories back and forth , prove themselves frustratingly wrong , and get back on the horse time and again . to make matters even more annoying , the robot they are making is given a voice that mimics them . the archival footage that is interspersed to break up the development of the machine has some interesting historical perspective . however , the voice over is a condescending one , as if it were speaking to mere 5-year olds ( who of course would never sit through a film like this ) . visually speaking , it doesn't matter which section of the " robo-welder " they are working on , though each piece gets an exhausting length of time . again , negroponte tries to make up for this in shifty camera work mixed with slow and fast motion , but all this creates is an eyesore . for some reason , the screen also changes from black and white to color at random . the redeeming values are few and far between . it's respectable that negroponte would try to teach the masses about such a subject and that the subjects aren't portrayed as perfect geniuses of noble personality . the structure of the film is pleasantly tight ; none of the scenes are particularly over-extended . but while it is human tendency to turn to technology to fix things , and some of these advances are fascinating , w . i . s . o . r . just doesn't make the grade . 
