Blog Summary

kgeiserdesma9@blogspot.com

Event #3

            I attended Ms. Masa Jazbec’s presentation in the Fowler Museum on campus. Her lecture was extremely interesting, especially since I know very little about robots. I was surprised to hear about all of the progress that has been made in this field and how advanced robots are in today’s world. Masa Jazbec began her presentation by breaking robots into the categories of humanoids and androids. Humanoids are robots in the shape of a human body and androids are ­­­­synthetic organisms designed to look and act like a human. She then discussed the huge international new media cultural festival that she just attended and all the new inventions revealed there. It is fascinating to hear about the huge following that robotics has gained over the past few years. The shows at this festival are completely sold out as people come to witness the new technological advances. One robot she named specifically was robot Asimo who had five viewings at this festival and all of them were completely booked. He is the most famous robot in the world and is most known for being able to walk downstairs, which is a huge progression in the robot world. However, not only is this a big advancement in robotics but also in the human world. As we connect this to this course we can see that the science in robots can be applied to our everyday lives. The ability of a robot to walk downstairs means that we are only closer to discovering more ways to aid those with disabilities.

            Masa Jazbec’s presentation also related to this class because of all the connections she highlighted between robots and science fiction culture. During her lecture she pointed out multiple films that featured robots. The most notable one of these was Star Wars, which is filled with robots. From this we can see how robots are bringing together the two cultures of art and science and connecting them in a way that appears in our everyday lives. Of all the various relations we have observed between art and science, I think that the robots have the most power in fully merging these two paths. Not only do robots have a huge attraction but they also are slowly becoming directly integrated into our lives. 

Works Cited

Ackerman, Evan. "Latest Geminoid Is Incredibly Realistic." IEEE Spectrum: Technology,

Engineering, and Science News. N.p., 05 Mar. 2011. Web. 31 May 2016.

"Human or Machine? Life-Like Android Robots from Japan Show Glimpses of the Future."

International Business Times RSS. N.p., 24 June 2014. Web. 31 May 2016.

McCurry, Justin. "Erica, the 'most Beautiful and Intelligent' Android, Leads Japan's Robot

Revolution." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 31 Dec. 2015. Web. 31 May

2016.

Rogers, SA. "Almost Human: 15 Frighteningly Realistic Robots & Androids." WebUrbanist Almost

Human 15 Frighteningly Realistic Robots Androids Comments. N.p., 30 June 2014. Web.

31 May 2016.

Zolfagharifard, Ellie. "The 'world's Sexiest Robot' Revealed: Eerily Life-like Female Android Turns Heads in China." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 27 Nov. 2015. Web. 31 May 2016.