Week 3: Robotics + Art

I learned all about industrialization, knowledge production, mechanization, and robotics and art. It all began with the printing press that was invented by Gutenburg in 1450, although it was actually invented by the Chinese 400 years earlier. This soon lead to the industrial revolution with assembly lines, and eventually the idea of robots. The Renaissance Printing Press used to mass produce created a new era for books as it was able to produce 3,600 pages per day compared to the 40 hand written. Henry Ford and the model T made people realize that the production of robots wasn't far away. His team was able to use an assembly line to efficiently produce cars so why can't they make robots?

In 1940 Walter Benjamin wrote his book "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". He was a German-Jewish literary critic whom wrote at an important time: when political issues entered the art world. Benjamin emphasizes how the world of mechanical reproduction is putting an end to uniqueness. With items being massed produced the idea of the original is lost and we are only left with countless of the same thing. Benjamin sees the work of art being lost in mechanical reproduction. The idea being controversial although you can see the same concept still existing the same. So many of our daily items are mass produced that everyone has the same thing. The same iphone, the same shoes, the same cars. The only thing that tends to change is the color, almost everyone is the same. We lost our sense of variety and authenticity.

In the lecture by Machiko Kusahara she goes into detail on the relationship between robotics and art. Astro Boy was a Japanese robot in an anime show whom served as the foundation for all robots in Japan. It was created after World War II and served as an inspiration and sign of hope. Similar to Astroboy R2D2 in star wars was a popular robot in the entertainment industry. Growing up watching Star Wars with my brothers R2D2 was the coolest robot I had ever seen. He still today is one of the most recognizable movie characters in the American cinema culture.

Works Cited

“Home.” Arduino, www.arduino.cc/.

Micromagic Systems Robotics Lab, www.hexapodrobot.com/index.html.

“San Francisco Robotics Society of America (SFRSA).” San Francisco Robotics Society of America (SFRSA), www.robots.org/.

Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt1." Robotics Pt1. Online, Los Angeles. 17 Apr. 2016. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese Robotics." Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese Robotics. Online, Los Angeles. 17 Apr. 2016. Lecture.

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