To test whether this is the case, the researchers hope to load the code onto Golem Krang - a robot already developed by Mr Stillman's laboratory - to see if it works in action.

BBC: US Navy funds 'MacGyver' robot that can create tools

The screenplay, by Seth Bass and Jonathan Tolins, based on a novel by David Gerrold, offers heartwarming, tearjerking, stand-up-and-cheer moments that only a golem could resist, but Meyjes never conjures a world, inner or outer, so the result is just a string of effective scenes, an illustrated script rather than an experience.

NEWYORKER: Martian Child