Flying cars and robotic maids in the popular cartoon series “The Jetsons” may still seem far-fetched, but they may be less futuristic than most people think.

Technological similarities between a cartoon universe and today’s reality will be explored at the “Jetsons’ Film Festival: A Technological Saturday Morning” at 8 tonight in the Maintenance Shop.

The festival will feature up to six episodes of the 1962 animated children’s show as the main part of the program.

Prior to the cartoon showing, ISU Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Larry Genalo will evaluate the predictions made by the creators of the futuristic Jetsons’ world. Genalo’s presentation will run about 15 minutes in length, he said.

“The Jetsons includes a lot of space-age items used to predict the future,” said Genalo, whose research area is the use of mobile robotics as an educational tool.

Genalo will be comparing products from the cartoon to current technology by presenting transparencies to the audience.

“We’ll be looking at home conveniences such as the robotic maid, which is similar to the Jetsons’ ‘Rosie the Robot,'” Genalo said.

Other home appliances, such as the existing automatic vacuum, will be examined. This is a round device that looks like a disk and was used in the Jetson household, Genalo said.

“We have developed a vacuum cleaner you just set on the floor, push a button and leave the room while it vacuums the floor,” Genalo said.

The Jetsons’ flying car will be compared to a prototype of a two- to four-seated skycar developed by a company on the West Coast, he said.

“It looks like the Jetsons’ car and is called the Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) car. It takes off like a helicopter and then goes forward — the skycar does the same thing as the flying car,” Genalo said.

The show predicted the use of instantaneous mail, which can be compared to electronic mail, he said. “Although the Jetsons used a pneumatic tube, it is the same idea. They did it physically, and we do it electronically,” Genalo said.

Genalo will also include information about 1960s technology in order for a college audience to “put things in context,” he said.

He will show photos of the 1960s dial phones and discuss the rural Iowa communication methods to provide a background for the Jetsons’ “visaphone,” which he compares to video conferencing.

This event is part of an Institute of National Affairs series celebrating technology, said Pat Miller, coordinator of the Lectures Program. The INA is a committee of students and faculty members who plan activities on campus, she said.

“It is part of a series based on television in America. … It is a wonderful idea to have somebody introduce the technological accuracy of the Jetsons, an opportunity to learn something,” she said.

Genalo said “Jetsons Film Festival: A Technological Saturday Morning” is in conjunction with the university’s theme this year, “Advancing Technology to Become the Best.”

The event is free and open to the public.