Unit 3: Robotics & Art

Ever since the invention of the movable type, literature and art have been made easily available to the masses. Through the industrial revolution, machinery found more and more ways into everyday life. Although convenience was greatly improved, technological advancements in technical reproduction inadvertently introduced the concern of preserving uniqueness. As pointed out in Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, "The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity". For art, even though there may exist an "original", reproductions in the form of copies may decrease how special viewing a piece is. Instead of enjoying a minute details of the brushstrokes of a painting modern viewers may be satisfied by looking at a digital print of the same work.

Fine Art Giclee Print on Moab Entrada Paper vs. Original Watercolour on Strathmore cold press Paper

A relationship between advancement and authenticity can also present itself when we look at robotics - although it happens from a different perspective. As mentioned in the lectures, we've seen a movement towards robots that take on the semblance of living things. Whether it's humanoids or hexapods, humans are creating machines than resemble less and less the machines that normally come to mind.

Humanoid Robot

One example of this is Big Dog, created by Boston Dynamics. Although it is a large robot featuring sophisticated control systems, it is still built to resemble's man's best friend. The combination of a robot that helps humans (in this case, to carry heavy equipment) that is designed in a form we are all familiar with also shows how we are moving towards a greater fusion between technology and art.

Big Dog

References

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

Big Dog. Digital image. Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move. Boston Dynamics, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bostondynamics.com/>.

"Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move." Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_bigdog.html>.

Davis, Douglas. "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction." Leonardo 28.5 (1995): 381-86. Print.

Duncan, Braden. Fine Art Giclee Print on Moab Entrada Paper vs. Original Watercolour on Strathmore Cold Press Paper. Digital image. Art Scene Seattle. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://art-scene-seattle.blogspot.com/2012/11/bfa-classiest-fine-art-scanning.html>.

Humanoid Robot. Digital image. Beach News. Beach News, 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://beach-news.com/interview-humanoid-robot/>.

"Micromagic Systems Robotics Lab." Micromagic Systems Robotics Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.hexapodrobot.com/index.html>.

Norman, Jeremy. "From Gutenberg’s Movable Type to the Digital Book, and Other Studies in the History of Media." Relating the Rapidly Changing Present to the Distant Past as Far as Book History Is Concerned. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://Fwww.historyofinformation.com/Fnarrative/Findex.php>.