Robotics and Art

        This weeks lesson taught me a lot about the relationship between robotics and art, which I had never considered before now. I had noticed that robots were often given humanoid shapes, however, I never really thought about why that was. I found it very interesting to learn about the relevance of creating a friendly looking robot. I was very interested in the Japanese animation Astroboy and the way in which this combination of art and robots encouraged people to believe in the future and provided a cultural basis for the way that robotics was viewed and incorporated in Japan; creating the notion that robots are friends and not something to be feared.(1) Robots that are used in pop-culture and entertainment certainly have an influence on the way that people view robots and their potential. One example of friendly robots in pop-culture are that of R2D2 and BB8 from Star wars, who have a cute aesthetic and also act as helpers to humans who they seem to create emotional attachments to and act as very loyal companions (2)

This topic made me think in an entirely new way about the way in which the aesthetic appearance of a robot influences peoples opinions of them. In addition, it made me realize the way that art and culture influence the public's views on technology.  Professor Kusuhara addresses the idea in pop-culture that robots may take over the world, or that they are or could turn evil. The whole notion of robots replacing humans has arisen within aspects of our culture ever since the Industrial Revolution when robots began to replace work that otherwise would have been done by humans. 

The connection between art and machinery becomes very clear when I think about the way in which one influences the public's perception of the other.  As Walter Benjamin said, "Mechanical reproduction of  art changes the reaction of the masses toward art." (3) In this case, it is art that is influencing the masses reaction toward mechanical reproduction. I believe that this goes both ways, as these two interconnected subjects influence the publics perception of one another within Western culture.


The movies I, Robot and Wall-E are the two movies which come to mind for me when addressing this topic, as I think they represent two entirely different sides in regards to fear, verses admiration for robots within modern culture. In I, Robot, the robots which were created to help humans wind up turning against them and working to take over the world.(4) In wall-E, on the other hand, the robot is in an animation movie and robots within it are used as adorable, earth-cleaners who are capable of love and other human emotions. Wall-E, himself, the main robot in the film, is extremely likable as he is very friendly and is working to clean up a waste-covered and abandoned earth in the distant future. (5)

Works Cited

(1) Robotics Lecture. Machiko Kusahara.

(2) http://www.starwars.com/databank/r2-d2

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

(4) I, Robot. Dir. Alex Proyas. Perf. Will Smith. Twentieth Century Fox, 2004.

(5) Wall-E. Dir. Andrew Stanton. Perf Ben Burtt. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2008