engineering

Robotrix

Robotrix is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robotrix rather than just read about it. In short: Robotrix (Chinese 女机械人 pinyin: nǚ jīxièrén "Woman Robot") is a 1991 Hong Kong science fiction exploitation film directed by Jamie Luk Kin-ming and produced by the Golden Harvest Company. It features Amy Yip, David Wu, Chikako Aoyama, Billy Chow, and Hui Hsiao-dan.

Key takeaways

Robotrix belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robotrix to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robotrix from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Robotrix (Chinese 女机械人 pinyin: nǚ jīxièrén "Woman Robot") is a 1991 Hong Kong science fiction exploitation film directed by Jamie Luk Kin-ming and produced by the Golden Harvest Company. It features Amy Yip, David Wu, Chikako Aoyama, Billy Chow, and Hui Hsiao-dan. The plot concerns a female police officer who is gunned down, only to have her mind transferred into a robotic clone.

Plot A criminally insane scientist, Ryuichi Yamamoto (Chung Lin), transfers his mind into a robot body (Billy Chow) and kidnaps an Arabian prince in order to extort money from the prince's father, which will allow him to build a legion of robots. A female police officer, Selena Lin (Chikako Aoyama), is killed trying to save the prince. Due to her exemplary skills as a policewoman, scientist Dr. Sara (Hui Hsiao-dan) transfers Selena's mind into a robot named Eve-27, which also replicates her physical human form. She returns to work, her colleagues and her policeman boyfriend Chou (David Wu) unaware of her death and resurrection as a robot. Selena, Dr. Sara, and Sara's robotic assistant Ann (Amy Yip) join a police taskforce led by Chou to find the prince and Yamamoto by investigating the murders of a number of prostitutes that the scientist has raped and killed. After Selena makes love with Chou, Ann also becomes curious about sex and the police use her to go undercover at a brothel. Chou later discovers Sara repairing Selena, revealing to him her robotic nature; despite Selena's pleas, Chou decides to end their relationship. Eventually the team captures Yamamoto and brings him to Sara's lab; however he breaks free and rapes Dr. Sara. Ann and Chou rescue Sara while Selena fights Yamamoto, but he defeats and deactivates her with an electric drill and escapes. Ann and Chou track Yamamoto to a junkyard, where he is holding the prince captive. They work together to trap Yamamoto in a crushing machine, before the now-freed prince drops a shipping container on his head, killing him. Afterwards, Dr. Sara and Ann are commended for their help, while Chou has to deal with a repaired Selena, whose memories have been restored but has been left unaware that she is a robot.

Cast Amy Yip – Ann David Wu – Chou Chikako Aoyama – Selena Lin/Eve-27 Billy Chow – Ryuichi Yamamoto's robot Chung Lin – Ryuichi Yamamoto Hui Hsiao-dan – Doctor Sara Ng Kin-chung – Puppy Bowie Wu – Police Commissioner Lee Hin-Ming – Informer Hui

Production Bill Lui, the winner of the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards (Best Art Direction), is the Art Director of this film. Cast member Vincent Lyn said of the film, "Now that was one wild shoot. The cast and crew were all over the place and you were lucky to find out what you were doing before the cameras rolled. I spent more time laughing on the set than anything else."

Release

Home media This film was first released on Blu-ray Disc on March 27, 2020. Then on November 11, 2024, online boutique movie store Shoutfactory released a Blu-Ray Disc of “Robotrix” as a part of its Golden Harvest compilation release called “Golden Harvest Vol. 1 Supernatural Shockers.”

Reception

Box office The film grossed HK$5,486,008 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 31 May to 13 June 1991 in Hong Kong.

Legacy This erotic R-rated thriller is notable for a Hong Kong film on general release in featuring frequent female full-frontal nudity, and is particularly notable for a scene of brief full-frontal male nudity (of Hong Kong Chinese actor Billy Chow, playing the robot version of Japanese scientist Ryuichi Yamamoto), as it is perhaps the first time in Hong Kong cinema that a Chinese adult male's genitals have been fully revealed on camera in a film for general release. It was also perhaps notable for leading the way in Hong Kong category 3 martial arts films. The idea of mind uploading as well as some cult elements inside the film make Robotrix become a science fiction film classic in Hong Kong.

See also List of Hong Kong films of 1991 Nudity in film (East Asian cinema since 1929)

References

External links Nu ji xie ren at IMDb Robotrix at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase Robotrix at Hong Kong Cinemagic Robotrix in Hong Kong Film Archive

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robotrix

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robotrix claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robotrix before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robotrix ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robotrix

In research: Robotrix appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robotrix in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robotrix is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1990s techno-thriller films, 1991 Cantonese-language films, 1991 Hong Kong films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robotrix outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Robotrix in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robotrix means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robotrix out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robotrix in simple terms?

Why does Robotrix matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robotrix?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robotrix.