Sunday, April 19, 2015

Unit 3: Robotics + Art




What if robots could replicate human?
Humans make mistakes. Humans make mistakes quite often, especially when compared to the precision and accuracy of robots. Thus during the industrial revolution the push towards increase production and manufacturing led to automation. However, automation was not enough. If robots could be more intelligent and make decisions by themselves. That would be even better. Yet, when is the point that robots do merely reproduce but can create and design.

 Walter Benjamin describe it in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction for machines like printing press and computers to "reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the must profound change in their impact upon the public." A human scribe can only make 40 copies a day, while a modern day laser printer can make 100 copies per minute. A photograph is a snapshot of the world through an cameraman's eye. Paintings are representatives of our world through an artists eye. The camera, paint, brushes and paper are the tools for the artists. Robotics have always be considered a tool, a way to aid humans. However, with artificial intelligence it will be possible for the robots to become the artists.
What if robots could create art?

 Most recently, IBM Watson was taught to cook. Watson is a computer program. After being taught the ideas of flavor combinations, Watson was able to combine different flavor combinations to create unique and new dishes. As Watson has no preconceived notion of proper combinations, Watson is a chef with no boundaries. What if the arts could be created by machines? What if machines can be like humans? What would that mean for us?
IBM Watson can invent dishes
Movies like Ex Machina, Matrix,  iRobot, even children's movie like Wall-E imagine different futures with robots. We could live on either ends of an extreme spectrum or somewhere in between. We can either live in a society ran by robots or in a society where robots tend to our every whim. However, it seems certain that the next industrialization will be build on the backs of robots.


Sources:

 Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction (An Evolving Thesis: 1991-1995) 28.5 (1995): 381-86. Print.

 Factory, Invention. "The Robot Revolution Is Here." Motherboard. 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-robot-revolution-is-here>.

 Jacob, Rose. "Rise of Robot Factories Leading 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'" Newsweek. Newsweek, 5 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/27/rise-robot-factories-leading-fourth-industrial-revolution-311497.html>.
Lo, Karen. "IBM's Watson Has Its Own Cookbook, 'Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson'" The Daily Meal. 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.thedailymeal.com/news/cook/ibm-s-watson-has-its-own-cookbook-cognitive-cooking-chef-watson/40815>.

"History of Robotics." History of Robotics. ThomasNet.com, 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/engineering-consulting/robotics-history>.

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3 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 21, 2015 at 11:05 PM

    Hi Rebecca,

    I appreciate the relationship you introduce between art and automation. Before the printing press, penmanship and the ability to write was reserved for the elite few. In addition, the advent of the photograph depreciated the value of realism art and pushed artists like Van Gogh to develop Impressionism.

    How do you believe the art society will advance and grow in the coming century. With robots able to completely replicate works of art, and create art on their own, is there anything unique that human artists will be able to cling to?

    Thank you,
    Jeff

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  2. LauraOApril 22, 2015 at 8:48 AM

    I really liked how you describe both ends of the spectrum in relation to a robots work because it perfectly summarizes why many people are afraid of robots, due to them being more intelligent and having more power than us while others do view them only as helpers.

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  3. UnknownApril 22, 2015 at 7:27 PM

    I like your examples of how artificial creativity might be accomplished but I still feel we are far away from making this a reality. Although the images you posted indeed look beautiful I feel that they are still a reflection of human ideas and creativity, the robot just becomes the final tool in assembling the art while the medium (which is the message right?) and randomness of output are predetermined by humans. Maybe one day robots will be smart enough to have truly creative and independent idea's but I suspect robot conciseness is the first step.

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