Unit 3: Robotics and Art

Art imitates Life, Life imitates Art :: Machine imitates Man, Man imitates Machine

Imitation as a feedback loop towards a convergence between biology and robotics.

In the materials for this weeks unit on Robotics + Art, the concept of imitation as inspiration and a driving force behind machine (and cultural) progress fascinated me. This most basic technique that humans unconsciously utilize as young children, imitation, was the main inspiration for both the physical forms (hardware) of the machines as well as the behavior patterns (software) behind many of the robots in the various Ted talks. However, I was reminded of cases where the reverse was true, in situations where humans imitate robots. From the “robot dance” to the persona's of the duo Daft Punk, we humans have imitated robots in popular culture for decades [1]. Much like the saying “Art imitates Life, Life imitates Art” [2] [3]. I believe the parallel still holds true: “Machine imitates Man, Man imitates Machine”.  I propose that it is through this cyclical process of imitation that humans and machines will ultimately converge to a singular point where the two become indifferentiable.

Daft Punk - Robotic Musical Duo
<http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2013/5/17/1368788110412/Daft-Punk-008.jpg>

Since the industrial revolution, both engineers and artists have created many machines in the likeness of living organisms. Dennis Hong’s RoMeLa lab creates robots such as DARwIn, STriDER and CLIMBeR whose motions have underlying ties to, or imitate, existing biological mechanisms. [4] Their robot STriDER mimics the mechanics of humans walking, using the flow of potential to kinetic energy in its smooth tri-pedal movement.

Much like the RoMeLa Lab, the Google owned Boston Dynamics also creates robots whose movements are inspired by animal anatomy. Their robots “Spot”, "Wildcat" and "BigDog" have bodies that resemble various 4 limbed animals like dogs, cheetahs and horses. Unfortunately for the robots, their quadpedal design gives them great balance so their creators are often seen trying to kick them over.  [5] Beyond mere form, many engineers have also found inspiration in the behavior patterns of humans. Hod Lipson’s robots have developed “self-awareness” through imitation, a basic learning mechanism of humans. Through imitation “like children”, these robots gained the ability to “learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate”. [6] All these engineers and artists created robots imitating aspects of nature.

However the imitation is not one way; we humans also imitate robots. Starting from the industrial revolution, when Professor Vesna pointed out that the integration of humans and machines comes from the second industrial revolution and the art that emerged from that era in response to the mechanization of labor in factories [7] . Later in the lecture, she highlights that the robot itself was originally a creation from theatre (1:54) which then inspired many films incorporating robotic characters.

By looking at both directions of influence, one can see that this process is actual quite cyclical. Each iteration of nature imitating machine, and machine mimicking nature in return renders the line between the two entities messier and messier. In the peculiar case of Hiroshi Ishiguro’s robotic self-portrait, the feedback loop is more immediate and the line blurring is much more drastic. Professor Ishiguro is well known for a certain robot creation, that is as much self-portrait as it is a twin, which he calls a geminoid. [8] After creating this robot as an exact replica of himself, he has had to “adjust himself to the robot which was created years ago”. His undergoing extensive plastic surgery mimics the permanence of non-biological creations.

Hiroshi Ishiguro and His Geminoid
<http://www.robotronica.qut.edu.au/images/hiroshi2.jpg>

I believe that in the future, after each iteration of this feedback loop, it will become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between man and machine, much like Professor Ishiguro and his Geminoid.

Works Cited 

[1] "Robot Dance."  YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_T81uUeZcM>.
[2] "Life Imitates Art" <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/life_imitates_art>.
[3] "Art Imitates Life"  <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/art_imitates_life>.

[4] Hong, Dennis. "Dennis Hong: My Seven Species of Robot" Ted. Ted, n.d. Web. <http://www.ted.com/talk/dennis_hong_my_seven_species_of_robot>.

[5] Boston Dynamics. "Boston Dynamics". <http://www.bostondynamics.com/>.

[6] Lipson, Hod."Hod Lipson Builds Self Aware Robots." Ted. Ted, n.d. Web. <http://www.ted.com/talks/hod_lipson_builds_self_aware_robots>.
[7] Vesna, Victoria. "Robotics Pt1" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRw9_v6w0ew>.
[8] Vesna, Victoria. "Professor Machiko Kusahara on Japanese robotics" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZ_sy-mdEU>.