Course webpage is here: http://peterasaro.org/courses/2012Robots.html
Course blog is here: http://robotsasmedia12.wordpress.com
As robots begin to move outside of factories and into a variety of new roles—from vacuuming floors to performing surgeries, disarming bombs, and driving cars—it is clear that they represent a radical new form of mediated information and agency. Predator drone robots have become the primary tool of the U.S. government in its war on terror, and, at the same time, journalists continue to refer to military robots as “Terminators.” These observations raise the question of how our ongoing development and use of robotic media is being shaped by media representations of robotics. This course examines the complex relationship between robots and the media, from both the perspective of representations of robots in the media—including film, television, and news media—and the development of robots as a new form of media. In the first part of the course we consider the types of narrative roles that robots have occupied, as well as how the concepts of robotics and automation are reflected in the social and cultural contexts in which those media are produced. The second part of the course explores recent developments in robotics as forms of digital media, both continuous with and distinct from other types of digital media. We assess how contemporary debates about the potential uses and social impacts of robotic media intersect with popular narratives about robotics, both pessimistic and optimistic. The class also considers what makes contemporary discourses on robotics unique, and what that might tell us about contemporary society and culture. Course materials include readings from a variety of popular, academic, and literary sources—among them texts by Katherine Hayles, Ken Goldberg, Rodney Brooks and Philip K. Dick—and video clips from TV and films including Blade Runner, Robo-Cop, Battlestar Galactica, Surrogates, and Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. Students are expected to produce a short mid-term, and longer final assignment—either a research paper, film or digital media project.
Please email me to setup an appointment.
You are expected to have thoroughly and thoughtfully read the assigned texts and to have prepared yourself to contribute meaningfully to the class discussions. For some people, that preparation requires taking copious notes on or abstracting the assigned readings; for others, it entails supplementing the assigned readings with explanatory texts found in survey textbooks or in online sources; and for others still, it involves reading the texts, ruminating on them afterwards, then discussing those readings with classmates before the class meeting. Whatever method best suits you, I hope you arrive at class with copies of the assigned reading, ready and willing to make yourself a valued contributor to the discussion, and eager to share your own relevant media experiences and interests. Your participation will be evaluated in terms of both quantity and quality.
There will also be several in-class presentations, which will contribute to you grade. The first short presentation will count for 5 points towards class participation, with attendence each week counting for 1 point. Each week we will designate an individual to present one of the "theory" papers assigned for the following week. We will start the next class with their presentations.
As this is a seminar course, regular attendance is essential. You will be permitted two excused absences (you must notify me of your inability to attend before class, via email or phone). Any subsequent absences and any un-excused absences will adversely affect your grade.
You will be required to make blog entries each week. Usually this will require you to conduct a short research project or exercise, and then report on it with a brief summary on the blog. Sometimes, the weekly assignment will simply ask you to comment on the readings for the week, or answer a question. Regardless, the assignment for the week will appear on right column of the blog.
You will be required to create an account on WordPress, and send me an email
with the EMAIL ADDRESS used to creat the account, so that you can be added as
authors for the collective course blog. Everyone will be posting to a common
blog page, and this will be readable by your classmates, but access will be
limited to only other class members, and not the whole internet. When writing
and making comments, you are expected to treat other students with the same
respect and courtesy as you should in the classroom. You are also expected to
respect rules of academic integrity, research ethics, and copyright when
posting to the blog.
Blog assignments will not be graded, per se, but I will read them and
occasionally comment on them myself, and they will be read by the Teaching
Assistant.
Blog posts will be due before the start of each class. They are time stamped when you post them. On-time posts will receive 3 points, late posts will receive 1.5 points. With 10 blog assignments, there are 30 points possible for the blogs.
In addition to posting your own entry each week, you are require to post at least 2 comments each week on the entries of other students. Because some students wait to post their entires, these are not strictly due before class, and do not have a strict deadline. But you should get in the habit of posting two comments each week. Each comment will receive 0.5 points each with 10 points possible
Discussion questions for the next week will be posted shortly after each class.
Proposals Due: March 29
Length: 1000 words (approx. 2-3 pages)
Paper Due: May 10
Length: 3000-5000 words (approx. 12-15 pages)
There will be no final exam. Instead, a 3000-5000 word (Times New Roman, 12pt
font, double spaced) term paper is due on Thursday, May 10th at 7:00PM. If that
time will not work for you, you need to make other arrangements by Thursday,
May 3rd at the latest.
Paper topics can address any aspect of the topics and materials discussed in class. They can focus on the theories themselves, or in applying the theories to media phenomena. Papers should include materials beyond what is directly covered in class, as appropriate for your topic. The blog will provide many ideas for papers, as will class discussion. You will have to write a proposal for your paper by March 29, but you should be thinking about possible topics throughout the semester.
Your paper should be submitted to me in electronic form (Word Perfect, MS Word, PDF, HTML and plain TXT are all fine). Late papers will not be accepted, as I must turn in grades shortly thereafter.
Most of the films and TV programs that will be assigned are available from a variety of sources. Many are available through the New School Library on DVD. In addition, they can be purchased from most book or video stores, rented from most video shop, or found through Netflix. For the videos which cannot be obtained easily in these ways, other means will be provided for you to view these films prior to class.
If you are intersted in focusing on robots in cinema or TV for your final
project, you will find many films and scholarly papers discussing them on a
previous syllabus for this course: http://peterasaro.org/courses/2011Robots.html.
All readings will be available electronically, via the web, in PDF, MS Word, HTML, or similar format.
Course Syllabus Overview
How to create a WordPress Account, and make a Blog Entry
Recommended:
Turing, A. M. (1950) "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," Mind 59, pp. 433-460.
Required:
Hans Moravec (2009) "Rise of the Robots--The Future of Artificial Intelligence," Scientific American, March 23, 2009
Erik Sofge, "Can Robots Be Trusted?"Popular Mechanics, Feb 2010, Vol. 187 Issue 2, pp. 54-61.Watch: Rodney Brooks says robots will invade our lives, Ted Talk 2003, 19 min.
Recommended:
Willow Garage ROS (Robot Operating System)
Douglas Rolfe (1934) "Robot Planes to Fight Enemy Air Raiders," Modern Mechanix, July 1934.
Richard Dempewolff (1949) "Robots ARE People!" Mechanix Illustrated, March 1949.
D. S. Halacy, Jr. (1953) "Our Heartless Friends the Robots," Popular Electronics, May 1963.
Lester David (1953) "The Robots Are Coming!" Mechanix Illustrated, December 1953.
O. O. Binder (1957) "You’ll Own “Slaves” by 1965," Mechanix Illustrated, January 1957.
William Tenn (1958) "There Are Robots Among Us," Popular Electronics, December 1958, pp. 48-52.
(1968) "The Robots are Coming, the Robots are Coming!"Time Magazine, June 14, 1968.
David D. Thornburg, (1983) "The Robots Are Coming," Compute Magazine, Issue 36, May, 1983, p. 28
Watch: Dennis Hong: My seven species of robot, Ted Talk 2009, 16 min.
Required:
"Three Faces of At-Home AI", Strategic Finance, June 2005, 7.
Watch: "Inside Microsoft's Future Home", BBC TV, May 13, 2009, 3 min.
Recommended:
"Smart Rooms and Buildings," Fraunhofer Magazine, January, 2012.
Explore: Fraunhofer's InHaus in Duisberg-Essen, Germany
PECES: Pervasive Computing in Embedded Systems (A Project at InHaus)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_automation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba
http://www.mylittleroomba.com/history
http://www.robotvacuumreviews.org/what-is-a-roomba-and-history
Explore: Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home
Watch: Donald Cammell, Demon Seed, MGM,1977,94 min.
Watch: Bryan Forbes, The Stepford Wives, Columbia Pictures, 1975, 115 min.
Required:
John Markoff (2011) "Google Lobbies Nevada to Allow Self-Driving Car," New York Times, May 10, 2011.
Watch: The Evolution of Self-Driving Cars, YouTube, 20 min.
Watch: The DARPA Grand Challenge, YouTube, 11 min.
Explore: Navlab: The Carnegie Mellon University Navigation Laboratory
Recommended:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-driving_car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge
DARPA Urban Grand Challenge website
Watch: The DARPA Grand Urban Challenge Champion, YouTube, 3 min.
Ernst D. Dickmanns (1997) "Vehicles Capable of Dynamic Vision," Proceedings IJCAI, 1997.
Watch: Ernst Dickmanns (2011) Keynote Lecture, YouTube, 77 min.
Prof. Schmidhuber's highlights of robot car history
Watch: CS373: Programming a Robotic Car, Youtube, 1 min.
Latour, Bruno (1996) Aramis: or The Love of Technology, Harvard University Press.
Required:
Recommended:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorism
Watch: Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop, MGM, 1987, 102 min.
Watch: Michael Crichton, Westworld, MGM, 1973, 93 min.
Watch: James Cameron, The Terminator, Orion Pictures, 1984, 107 min.
Watch: Ron Howard, Gung Ho, Paramount, 1986, 112 min.
Richard Powers, "What is Artificial Intelligence?", Op-Ed, New York Times, February 5, 2011.
Lewis Yablonsky, Robopaths: People as Machines, Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books Inc., 1972.
Required:
Watch: Catherine Mohr: Surgery's past, present and robotic future, 2010 TED talk, 19 min.
Watch: Robotic Surgery Demonstration Using Da Vinci Surgical System, YouTube, 5 min.
Watch: Seattle Doctor Folds and Throws Paper Airplane Using da Vinci Robot, YouTube, 3 min.
Explore: The Intuitive Surgical Website
Explore: The DaVinci Surgery Website
Gina Kolata, "Results Unproven, Robot Surgery Wins Converts," New York Times, February 13, 2010.
Recommended:
Required:
Interview with Sherry Turkle "What Will Love Come to Mean?"
David Hansen, "Why We Should Build Humanlike Robots", IEEE Spectrum, April 1, 2011.
Recommended:
Watch: Craig Gillespie, Lars and the Real Girl, 2007, 106 min.
Watch: David Hanson: Robots that "show emotion", 2010 TED talk, 5 min.
Watch: Caleb Chung plays with Pleo, 2010 TED talk
Sloman, A. and M. Croucher (1981) "Why Robots Will Have Emotions," Proceedings of IJCAI, Vancouver.
"Emotion" MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999.
"Emotion" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Required:
Watch: Peter Asaro, Love Machine, Kaiczech and Savario, 2001, 110 min.
Watch: Allison De Fren, ASFR, 2001, 7 min.
Evan Ackerman (2012) "Animatronic Robot Baby Cannot Be Unseen," IEEE Spectrum, January 21, 2012.
Recommended:
Watch: Allison De Fren, The Mechanical Bride, rough cut, forthcoming.
Watch: David Levy "Love and Sex with Robots" Interview, The Colbert Report, 2007.
Watch: Errol Morris, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, Sony Pictures Classics, 1997, 80 min.
Required:
Don Norman (2003) Emotional Design, Chapter 7 The Future of Robots.
Watch: "Interrogation Robot," (2011), San Jose State University, YouTube, 6 min.
Watch: "No Robots," (2011), Yunghan Chang, Vimeo, 6 min.
Watch: "Ken Goldberg - Can Robots Inspire Us To Be Better Humans?", TEDx, 18 min.
Recommended:
Watch: Chris Columbus, Bicenntinial Man, Columbia Pictures, 1999, 132 min.
Watch: Alex Proyas, I, Robot, 20th Century Fox, 2004, 115 min.
Isaac Asimov, Essays on Robots, from Robot Visions, New York: ROC Penguin Group, 1990: pp. 405-457.
Required:
John Markoff, "War Machines: Recruiting Robots for Combat," November 27, 2010, New York Times.
David Axe, "One in 50 Troops in Afghanistan Is a Robot," February 7, 2011, Wired.
Paul Sharre (2011) "Why Unmanned," Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 61, pp. 89-93.
Watch: "Drone Controllers Execute Hellfire Strike from Predator UAV," Redux, 2 min. (2009)
Watch: Omer Fast (2011)5,000 Feet is the Best, 30 min. [select from "Online Preview" menu]
Watch: Faultlines (2011)"Robot Wars," Al Jazeera English, 30 min.
Recommended:
Text of the Attorney General’s National Security Speech, March 3, 2012.
Grégoire Chamayou (2011) "The Manhunt Doctrine," Radical Philosophy, Volume 169, Sep/Oct 2011.
Watch: Frontline (2009)Taking out the Taliban: Home for Dinner, PBS, 5 min
Watch: Frontline (2011) Kill/Capture, PBS, 60 min.
Watch: DocZone, (2011) Remote Control War, CBC, 45 min. (only viewable in Canada)
Required:
Watch: Alex Rivera, Sleep Dealer, Likely Story, 2008, 90 min.
Mark Anderson, "How Does a Terminator Know When to Not Terminate?", May 2010, Discover Magazine.
Owen Bowcott and Paul Lewis, "Attack of the drones," January 16, 2011, The Gaurdian.
Recommended:
International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) website.
Rob Sparrow (2007). "Killer Robots," Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 24, No. 1, 62-77.
Required:
IEEE Spectrum Special Issue on Telepresence, September 2010.
Recommended:
Watch: Jonathan Mostow, Surrogates, Touchstone Pictures, 2009, 89 min.
Required:
Erico Guizzo, "Japan Earthquake: Robots Help Search For Survivors," IEEE Spectrum, March 13, 2011.
Recommended:
Watch: "BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster: Robot loses Saw - 2nd Robot brings it back. Wow!" YouTube, 9 min.
Watch: "BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster: Robot is handling a slip hook," YouTube, 5 min.
Watch: "BP cutting pipes on BOP - deep water horizon - oil spill live feed," YouTube, 11 min.
Watch: "Spidercam US Open 2010 Opening," YouTube, 1 min.
Watch: "Spidercam European swimming Championships Budapest," YouTube, 3 min.
Watch: "Spidercam Real Madrid Barcelona El Classico," YouTube, 5 min.
Required:
Jennifer Lynch (2012) "Are Drones Watching You?" Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Mark Corcoran (2012) "Drone journalism takes off," ABC Australia News, February 21, 2012.
Recommended:
"Unblinking eyes in the sky," The Economist, March 3, 2012.
Watch: "Protester Films Polish Riots Using Drone 2011" YouTube, 3 min.
Watch: "Citizens Shoot Down Animal Rights Group's Surveillance Drone" The Blaze, 3 min.