WEEK 3 : ROBOTICS & ART

    

Smith, Danni. “Robot Illustrations.” Danni Smith Art, www.dannismithart.com/robots. 

        When I think of art I think creative, flowy, and colorful; however, when I think of robots I think rigid, mechanical, and grey. It did not occur to me that robots could be used to create art or artistic knowledge could be used to enhance the features of robots. Art to me was painting, sculptures, and so on. This perspective changed when Walter Benjamin introduced the concept of “mechanical reproduction of art.” I realized then that the cameraman was just as much an artist as a painter. Gijs van Bon takes it a step further to give examples of modern-day artistic tools through his example of a “StreetRover”, which is “This computer-controlled high-pressure cleaner writes and draws on the street by purposefully and precisely removing the dirt from paving stones or asphalt.” 

 Bon, Gijs van. “StreetRover.” GIJS VAN BON, 2020, www.gijsvanbon.nl/streetrover.html. 

       Although it did make sense to me how robots could be used to create art, it never occurred to me how art could have led to the development of robots. Prof Vesna speaks in length about how movies depict certain technologies even before they existed and how that could have led to the invention of these technologies. She further helped me recognize that older sci-fi movies now seem tame compared to the new inventions that are present today. 

      Much like any new invention, robots too elicit mixed responses from society. On one hand, you have people being skeptical or strongly against robots and automation. Rodney Brooks claims that humans feel this because “We don't like to give up our special-ness, so, you know, having the idea that robots could really have emotions, or that robots could be living creatures -- I think is going to be hard for us to accept.”

     We also see that there are positive reactions towards robots.  Masa Jazbec discusses how in Japan people have embraced robots. Since Buddhism is common practice in Japan, they feel everything has life. Therefore, they are not threatened by the life-likeness of robots. Additionally, people working on projects that aim to be “a spokesbot for friendly artificial intelligence, friendly machine intelligence” (Hanson). All this gives me hope that robots will be more widely accepted in the future. 

Robots to Transform Japan’s Social Care by 2020, Internet of Business, 2020, internetofbusiness.com/robots-japan-social-care/. 

REFERENCES:

 

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.  

Bon, Gijs van. Gijs Van Bon, 2020, www.gijsvanbon.nl/. 

Vesna,Victoria. “Lecture Part 2.” Math + Art. 12 Oct. 2012. Lecture.

Brooks, Rodney. “Robots Will Invade Our Lives.” TED, Feb. 2003, www.ted.com/talks/rodney_brooks_robots_will_invade_our_lives. 

Jazbec , Masa. “Robotics and Art .” 12 Apr. 2021. 

Hanson, David. “Robots That ‘Show Emotion.’” TED, Feb. 2009, www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_show_emotion. 

Smith , Danni. “Robot Illustrations.” Danni Smith Art , www.dannismithart.com/robots. 

 Bon, Gijs van. “StreetRover.” GIJS VAN BON, 2020, www.gijsvanbon.nl/streetrover.html. 

Robots to Transform Japan’s Social Care by 2020, Internet of Business, 2020, internetofbusiness.com/robots-japan-social-care/.