Week 3: Art and Robotics

According to History.com, the industrial revolution started when humans figured out how to mechanize the production of clothing though the steam engine. During this time, the very first “robots” in a sense, took the form of textile and iron machines. In this context, the development of robots greatly benefited humanity in providing many goods and jumped started a time of mass production.

 Courtesy of Britannica

The earliest conception of a humanoid robot was from the play Rossum’s Universal Robots where robots were used initially as servants to humans that later started a rebellion that wipes out the human race. Similarly a modern version takes the form of the film I, Robot. Both these media sources depict humans as creating robots for our own personal uses and greed. Then the robots become sentinent and turn on the humans.

 Courtesy of Wikipedia

In Lipson’s TedTalk, he displays the current technology available to have robots take on a sense of being “sentient” where they can learn how to walk efficiently. Although this is impressive, it is very limited in capabilities. However, in I Robot, the cinematographers depict a time where a single robot has learned and evolved to a point where she has determined humans are no longer safe in guiding their own existence and instigates a robotic takeover to better care for humans.

 Courtesy of Comingsoon.net

In the small era of humans, machines and particularly robots have greatly improved the human experience. They take everyday menial tasks such as vacuuming and automate it so humans can spend their time doing other more worthwhile endeavors. However, the future of robotics is unknown. Many authors and artists have predicted that robots may one day reflect human consciousness and be able to absorb and understand knowledge self sufficiently. This has alluded to potential catastrophes where robots over take humans and potentially wipe them out. With many uncertainties, I believe that robots will continue to improve human life until the day they gain consciousness when human and robot interaction will be completely redefined.

Brooks, Rodney. "Robots Will Invade Our Lives." Www.Ted.com. TED, Feb. 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

History.com Staff. "Industrial Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan Tudyk, Bruce Greenwood. 20th Century Fox, 2004. Film.

Lipson, Hod. "Building "self-aware" Robots." www.TED.com. TED, Mar. 2207. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Rossum’s Universal Robots. By Karel Čapek. Prague. 25 Jan. 1921. Performance.