Week 3 | Robotics + Art |

Robotics + Art
According to the three lectures covered by professor Vesna, the historical development of robots reflects the progression of society; dated back to the invention of the printing press in China, to the mass production that triggered by the assembly line, and to the industrialization began in England, the development drastically transformed societies in the world.

Industrialization in British

The emergence of technology and industrialization is the result of fulfilling people's need in order to improve styles of living for all social classes. The printing press and assembly line all invented to make the tasks easier and more efficient. Same as robotics, they are created by humans to perform certain tasks and provide humans more leisure time. 

Robotic kitchen

For example, in our modern society, robots began to take roles in ordinary jobs. There are cooking robots that can reach the cooking skills of a professional chef. All you need to do is select the dish on a screen, and the robotic kitchen will do all the work. There are also robots that can clean your floor easily, which I have one at my house.

Cleaning Robots

When we react to new technology and industrial improvement, we always hold mixed and controversial feelings, combining with pride and fair. In the 2019 movie: Battle Angel: Alita, the main character is a rebuilt cyborg, which is both artificial and biological, combining art and robotics. The character is very powerful, but the society viewed her as a useful weapon but also a dangerous threat. There is a debate on robots that whether they will develop their own mind and eventually take over the world.

Alita, 2019

There are many criticisms on technology as it changes our lives. Regarding art and robotic, in Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", he criticized the effect of mechanical reproduction on art. He thinks that art is valued for its uniqueness and the process of making, but art is devalued by mechanical mass reproduction. As the assembly line changed the essentials of labor, human workers work as they are part of the machines, which give birth to the idea of "robot".

Works Cited
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics pt2.” Youtube, uploaded by UC Online, April 14, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=86&v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/benjamin.pdf.

“The Beginning of Industrialization in Britain.” Foundations of Western Culture, Foundations.uwgb.org, 2016, foundations.uwgb.org/cause-and-effect/.

Editors, History.com. “Printing Press.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 May 2018, www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press.

New World Encyclopedia Editors, “History of the Industrial Revolution”, February 26, 2014, Accessed February 29, 2016, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/History_of_the_Industrial_Revolution.