Summary:

Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner is a film about life created for slave purposes and it's consquences. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a police man of the future who hunts down and terminates replicants, artificially created humans--androids.  These replicants are human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans.  Originally in retirement, Deckard is forced to re-enter the force when five replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.  The city that Deckard must search for his prey is a huge, sprawling, bleak vision of the future. This film questions what it is to be human, and why life is so precious.

Questions:

1.  What is the role/function of robot? Why was it created?
The NEXUS-6 androids are virtually indistinguishable from humans, save that the androids are more intelligent.  Genetically engineered and made up of organic materials, the artificial beings are created in young adult form and lack the ability to replace dead cells, thus limiting their life-span to just four years.  Unlike humans, androids cannot function without breathing, and cannot hold their breath ìfor more than five or six seconds.

2.  How human is it? How human is it meant to be?

Replicants are virually human clones with a built-in expiration date. They are meant to be in every way human and to perform human tasks as slaves.

3.  How does it interact with society? How do humans respond to it?

Most of the replicants turned against humans because they are supposed to be destroyed if found on earth.  They are difficult to hunt down due to their ability to integrate themselves with society almost imperceptibly.  Only trained Blade Runners such as Deckard were able to spot them, and this sometimes only after a specialized test was run on the android.

4.  What are the consequences within the context of the world of the work?

The consequences of building such creations are many, as the Tyrell Corporation discovers. These beings become fed up with their slave positions and less-than-human status. They desire to extend their life-span and to claim their independence, and eventually they make their way back to the Tyrell Corporation. One of them kills J. F. Sebastian, their creator and genetic engineer, and ultimately prove that such creations are perhaps non-ethical and extremely dangerous. The creation comes back to kill the creator, the one who gave life lost his in his attempt at control and power.

5.  Does it introduce a new idea or aid in the evolution of the robot? i.e. What is its contribution?

Many ideas are presented in Blade Runner concerning the idea of robots or replicants. Although the replicants are not specifically robots, they are created life forms that are supposedly under human control and are created for a specific purpose. One main idea is the issue of the rights that robots/androids have or don't have.  This question is dealt with throughout the movie and never comes to a conclusion. Here is an essay on the topic. Also the idea of revolt or losing control over the creations is presented. This idea seems to be one that is continually evolving in the history of robots and film, starting with Metropolis.