Science and engineering are hidden stars in Stealth

COLLEGE PARK, MD (JULY 28, 2005)-Hollywood actors take a back seat to science and engineering used in the movie Stealth, opening in theaters on Friday.

In the movie, the science of artificial intelligence is taken to new heights as three U. S. Navy pilots played by Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx face their toughest fight yet when an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle named Extreme Deep Invader (EDI) becomes too smart for its own good.

Artificial Intelligence is when a machine imitates traits seen in human behavior, such as making a decision, but artificial intelligence expert Dr. James Hendler at the University of Maryland, says that artificial intelligence will always need a human touch. "No matter how "smart" the machine is, you still have to tell it what to do," say Hendler.

While artificial intelligence is the science featured in the plot of the movie, it’s the science and engineering hidden behind the scenes in the movie’s production that is truly impressive.

Stealth director Ron Cohen worked with industrial designers drawing from the latest naval jet patterns to create the three talon planes and "EDI." Then, the talons were tweaked to look "beautiful as well as powerful," while “EDI” was designed to be "cool yet terrifying," explained Cohen.

In order to capture all angles of the planes and look realistic flying, the planes had to be able to move in all directions. So, engineers designed and built a one-of-a kind gimbal-which allows the plane to incline at different angles. "The gimbal weighs 100 tons, has the ability to pull five G’s and can work on a very wide range of motion," said Cohen. "In terms of our mechanical technology, we designed a gimbal the likes of which had not been seen before."

With the planes ready for any camera angle, Cohen had to worry about how the planes would look flying over the landscape. So, he turned to the computer scientists and technical experts at Digital Domain to try out their brand new technology call Tergen (terrain generator) which creates virtual backgrounds using actual topographic maps of that area. For example, Tergen could pull up a map of Arizona and "EDI" could appear to be flying over the Grand Canyon.

The movie got help from Navy fighter pilots to make sure the flight scenes were accurate and believable. With the plane attached to the gimbal, the pilot was give information as if this were a real flight-altitude, the terrain, air currents, cloud patterns and the time of day. Then, the pilot would sit at the remote controls attached to the gimbal and "fly."

"I think it will be a long time before a movie of this magnitude comes along again where they’ll be able to use this type of technology," says John Frazier, Stealth’s special effects expert. So, when you are watching Stealth, sit back and enjoy the hidden role science and engineering plays in the movie.

Rated: PG-13
Inside Science's Science Rating: 1 star (There's not much science in the film!)

FOR MORE INFO:
Dr. James A. Hendler
Artificial Intelligence Expert
University of Maryland
301-405-2696
hendler@cs.umd.edu

Jenny McGrath
Studio Media Contact for Ron Cohen and John Frazier
Columbia Pictures
310-244-3708
Jennifer_mcgrath@spe.sony.com

Emilie Lorditch
American Institute of Physics
301-209-3029
elorditc@aip.org

Movie website

To receive more news like this, please visit http://listserv.aip.org/insidescience.html or send an email to listserv@listserv.aip.org with the words SUBSCRIBE INSIDESCIENCE Firstname Lastname.