Want my theory?
D.A.R.Y.L. is shown watching a show on a military computer, while scientists look down on him with a scrutinizing gaze.
Take a look at the basic plot of the movie. An experiment in artificial intelligence is becoming human and the military isn't having it.
Essentially, Daryl is looking at the Jetsons, a show about this family who loves one another and is free from such entanglements. It's likely the people responsible for the poster wanted to convey that sense of a little boy just wanting to have a normal human life, much to the dissaproval of the government.
I agree with the above poster but also, the jetsons was supposed to be about life in the future, specifically technological advancements. Maybe Daryl is daydreaming about a day in the future when all people will be "enhanced" with cpus and he won't be alone, he'll be the norm.
After all, he is human, anyway, except for one tiny computer chip. Will people be "robots" if nanotechs are fully developed and used? Are people with pacemakers or other mechanical devices that replace some of their bodily functions (like heart beat regulation) or those with hearing aids robots? No. In my opinion Daryl is no different than someone with a pacemaker or a hearing aid, except he has a mechanical device in his brain which allows him to perform mental tasks like a child prodigy.
Calling Daryl a robot is like calling Geordie from Star Trek the Next Generation a robot because of his visor.
"Man is a social animal who despises his fellow man" ~ Delacroix
Paramount had a live-action Jetsons movie in development at the time which was never made. When I first saw a newspaper ad for DARYL, I thought it was at least a hint of that movie's coming out.
shareI read a long time ago that there was to be a similar scene where D.A.R.Y.L had found a way to program one of the lab monitors to a station showing cartoons and The Jetsons was to be the cartoon he watches. I think that scene got rewritten and the Jetson's appearance cut out. HB still allowed the image to be used on the poster. BTW the boy used in the poster is not Oliver Barrett.
Thousands die every day for no reason at all, where's your bleeding heart for them?