Skip to main content

Week 3: Robot + Art

Week 3: Robot + Art

Today, robots are utilized in verity of areas such as mass assembly industries, medical surgery, space missions, and military. The most successful application of robots may be the Japanese automobile industry but the ability of robots in manufacturing is very limited to the factory needs. However, when the power of robots meets with the art of war, the full potential of a future robot is beyond our imagination.
Leonardo Davinci's Robot Design
Benjamin concluded in his paper as “War and war only can set a goal for mass movements on the largest scale while respecting the traditional property system…Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today's technical resources while maintaining the property system.” The idea of using robots in war is not new. It was 522 years ago, in 1495, Leonardo DaVinci designed a mechanical device that looks like an armored knight which is the first recorded humanoid robot in history. His robot was purely a mechanical device compared to modern robots with computer brain and artificial intelligence. Military robots can now fire a gun, drive a car, the ability to learn from the environment, and many other tasks that normal human being cannot do or too risky to do such as searching the land mines in the combat zone. 

A U.S. Army Talon-3B tracked robot in Iraq
Since robots help to locate, identify, render safe and dispose of an improvised explosive device, they have become the companions of modern American soldiers in the front line of war. Some of them even have human nicknames. "We named ours Elly … And I talked to her," said Brady, a 28-year-old Army sergeant. "They’re kind of part of the family, almost, you know?" (NBCNews). Soldiers awarded fictitious medals to the robots who helped them successfully in battle ground. When the robot is lost, soldiers would feel the anger, frustration and a sense of loss, and some even held funerals for destroyed robots.

Youtube Video: Russian Robot firing guns
Robots! Our friends or foes?
References
Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader (1936): 25-33. Web.
Isom, James. "A Brief History of Robotics." MegaGiant Robotics. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Photo by Erik Möller. Leonardo da Vinci. Mensch - Erfinder - Genie exhibit, Berlin 2005. (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Subbaraman, Nidhi. "Soldiers <3 robots: Military bots get awards, nicknames ... funerals." NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
VocativVideo. YouTube. YouTube, 18 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3W9yDdmehk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2 : Math + Art

Week 2 : Math + Art The fourth dimension began popular as early as around year 1900 not only among artists but also the scientists and mathematicians. One of the most interesting theories of fourth dimension is Minkowski space where the fourth dimension is clarified as time. This is the fundamental concept of modern computer graphic and animated films where 3D objects are moved over time using vector forms.  Another example of Mathematic influence in art and science can be seen in the novel, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Abbott. The author describes social classes using the geometry shapes such as points, lines, triangles, squares, polygons and circles and the different worlds using the mathematical dimensions. The fascinating topic for me in this week is origami presented by Robert Lang. The art of folding paper has helped the Livermore engineers to fold a 5-meters lens to send into the space, which is the great achievement accomplished by the combination of art an...
2 comments
Read more

Week 4 : Medicine + Technology + Art

Medicine + Technology + Art Source: Maria Fabrizio for NPR Studying the lectures of medicine, technology and art this week reminds me of music being used as medicine in hospitals. We all know that listening to music can ease our emotional pain but music listening is also a noninvasive, cost effective and safe nursing intervention in hospitals. Not only the classical music but also music of modern artists such as Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys can also ease physical pain, according to the study of children and teenagers who had major surgery (NPR News). Music therapy is better than traditional painkillers because it is free from drug addiction and harmful side effects. In addition, older adult patients who listened to music in the preoperative holding area reported less anxiety, lower blood pressure and pulse rate than those who did not listen to music (Cunningham). Music can also help the patient who had suffered a Stroke to be able to speak using ‘Musical Speech Stimulatio...
1 comment
Read more

Week 6 : Bio + Art

Week 6 : Bio + Art Blue Delphiniums The first artist who created and exhibited Bio-art in the Museum in history is Edward Steichen who hybridizes beautiful delphiniums. He described his work as “The science of heredity when applied to plant breeding, which has as its ultimate purpose the aesthetic appeal of beauty, is a creative art”. Delphiniums were indeed beautiful and nobody questions the ethic of Bio-art at that moment. However, when Eduardo Kac presented genetically engineered green fluorescent rabbit, people began to question whether artists creating or manipulating living organisms for art works is ethical or not. Furthermore, Stelarc has undertaken a radical transformation of his body; the extra ear being constructed on his arm which is bizarre for many people. People do wish there should be limits to human creativity in the fear of bio-art turns into bio-hazard by bio-hackers and outlaws. However, with DYI biology, anyone can create their own bio lab in their garage o...
1 comment
Read more