Week 3 - Robotics & Art

            Robotics in the 21^st century is a subject that is not only fascinating to today’s society, but important. In robotics, the imaginations of artists and scientists can culminate to make the ideas of science-fiction blockbusters, like iRobot, into a reality.

The 2004 blockbuster IRobot trailer.

The movie is set in the year 2035, only about 20 years from today, but how close are we to the mass production of robots? The answer is, surprisingly, not far at all. The series of TED talks in this week’s resources show that advancements in materials, mechanization, and computers are quickly accelerating the development of robotics. From Hod Lipson’s self-aware robots, to David Hanson’s robots that show emotion, robots are already infiltrating today’s industrialized era.  

The uses of robots are only limited by our imaginations. Today, sign-waving mannequins are replacing the sign spinners we often see on the corners of busy streets.

Sign waving manneqin. NPR Article

 Google has already created a prototype for autonomous cars.

Google's self-driving cars. Link

With this new era of autonomous robotics quickly approaching, it is important for society to analyze the ethics of robotics in our society.  For me, autonomous cars would largely be beneficial to society, as human errors would no longer be a major cause for the thousands of deaths caused by automobile accidents. However, the use of these cars would have huge implications to our society. The biggest impact would be that society would gain a greater trust in the autonomy of inanimate objects. From this, we would rely more and more on technology to complete the tasks humans historically have done, from babysitting, to our soldiers at war. It is important that we continue to analyze and become aware of these technologies as we experience this up and coming shift to robotics. Just as art was largely influenced by the industrial revolution, art will just as largely be influenced  and influence a robotic revolution.

Sources

Hanson, David. Robots that Show Emotion. 2009. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you.html>.

Hong, Dennis. My Seven Species of Robot. 2009. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_my_seven_species_of_robot.html>.

Lipson, Hod. Building "Self-Aware" Robots. 2007. Video. TED TalksWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots.html>.

Mahal, Steve. Self-Driving Car Test. N.d. Video. GoogleWeb. 19 Oct 2013. <http://www.google.com/about/jobs/lifeatgoogle/self-driving-car-test-steve-mahan.html>.

Schmidt, Alex. "There's a New Kind of Sign Spinner in Town." 16 OCT 2013: n. page. Print. <http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/232105767/there-s-a-new-kind-of-sign-spinner-in-town>.