Jessica Field |
Home|Robots|Projects|Exhibitions|Bio|Research|Contact|Links|Thanks |
Field Studies |
2009Videos of work below: Installation Overview: Field Studies on Walking Robots from Jessica Field on Vimeo. The still images in the video of the gallery space were taken by Paul Litherland. Installation Concept: This project addresses social issues concerning the commercial creation of artificial intelligence robots that attempt to fulfil human expectations and desires. Field Studies uses video works to create a facade of expectation in the viewer. The videos are idealistic, they depict the robots in a virtual manner where everything they do is harmonious, orderly and fulfil the desires of the artist by doing everything she wants them to do. The real robots in the exhibition do not embody these behaviours; they have their own intelligence and shortcomings quite apart from Field’s expectations of them and are nearly always out of sync with the video’s expectations. The robots instead have behaviours of their own and their lack of evolution towards the artist’s expectations creates a character that is their own. The idea of evolution is explored in having three different classification of robots where each robot interacts with its similar class of robot in an ecosystem. Each class of robot has a different level of sophistication. The first carries the intelligence of a Protozoan Flagellate, a single cell organism. The second classification uses a nerve-net intelligence structure; it uses the senses to directly control the whole body’s reaction without any process of thought interpreting the experience. These robots are static and incapable of any form of evolution. This is the result of being created from conception to reality without having any way of reprogramming them to improve their behaviours. The last class of robots can evolve. They can be modified indefinitely to work in their environment as efficiently as possible by being able to remember their experiences and use logic to interpret their sensory data. With all this going for them, they still do not quite fulfil the grandeur of what they can do in their video. It then comes down to the question of how many times do these robots have to evolve before they work perfectly to the artist’s expectations. The mainstream idea of a robot is a stereotype of offering immediate gratification and is designed to fulfil human expectations and desires. Yet the robot itself has many hardware limitations in what it can actually do; in working with these limitations, the robot evolves very slowly and when finished only fulfils the smallest shadow of the idealism we desire for them. Our imagination of what we want the robot to become fills in the rest of the details.
Video Works:
Anthropod Tales |
Anthropod Tales from Jessica Field on Vimeo.
Five Walking Robot Fairy tales. These fairy tales are based on programmed robots that have each been given a tragic flaw. They are all autonomous and are capable of acting out their part as described by the story. The robots were built first and programmed and the video as an interpretation of their final behaviours. Robot designs were copied from all three of Karl Williams How to build a robot books (Insectronics, Ambhibionics, and build your own humanoid robots). They were then modified. All programming, electronics, and circuit board designs are from Jessica Field.
Ideological Ecosystem |
Ideological Ecologies from Jessica Field on Vimeo.
This animation depicts how I want my Hydrozoans to interact together in an ideal ecology. The video represents how I want my robots to interact and behave with each other. It explains the ecosystem of how I would want my robots to relate to each other. This video is part of an installation where it is a juxtaposition between the real robots which do not have the ability to evolve. They have no brain. They function like a nerve-net. Sensor data is intermediated to control the motors that drive the robot. The robots were influenced from Tamiya toys.
Like a Robot |
Like a Robot from Jessica Field on Vimeo.
This video is a representation of what it is like to see like an Anthropod.
Robots: Protozoan Flagellates |
Protozoan Flagellates from Jessica Field on Vimeo.
Inspired by a toy from Tamiya (using vibration propulsion), I created a single cell robot. Using a solar panel, solar engine and a vibration motor, I created a society of single cell robots, or protozoans. To add a dynamic society, I made all of the single cell robots slightly different. Some have more absorbent solar cells than others and each has a different energy storage capacity. What you see is the result of these differences. |
Hydrozoans
The two legged robot on the left is Bi Thermotaxis and on the right is Macropod Motivetaxis. These robots are a species of Cnideria, meaning that they have a nerve-net central nervous system. These robots have no chance of evolving. They have sensors, intermediate circuitry and motor outputs. They have no brain, nor can they be reprogrammed. There exists a facade, where humans are creating a fantasy of what they think artificial intelligence should be rather than looking at the reality before them to see what artificial intelligence could be. The video, Ideological Ecologies, is about these robots. It shows the facade of stereotypical roles I would like my robots' to adopt in their behaviours. These robots do not share the stereotypes that the video claims they have as I have no control to change them. The rules used to create these robots are as follows: 1) I will build the robots so they function individually; 2) The moment work alone I will stop the adjusting them. As this is where the manipulations begin in order to create a robot that suits the creator's mental image. The video will be used to show how the robots are meant to behave and will provide a juxtaposition against their actual performance. Thus, the unexpected results of my first attempt can be regarded as a robot behaving beyond human expectation. In seeing them as they are, one can begin to wonder if these robots are a form of artificial life. The surface of their environment is covered in iron filings that shows the traces of their movements over the course of 5 weeks. The six legged robot can draw lines so its activities can me traced. The others must be observed by their foot prints. |
Hexa Pascalotaxis |
Quadra Phototaxis |
Hexa Pascalotaxis' drawings |
Quadra Phototaxis and Macropod Motivetaxis footprints |
Anthropods
Far left, Quadra Magnetoconsumous; Middle, Bi Magnetotransis; Far Right, Hexa Infraseekozoid. The Bi Magnetotransis has completed 15 phases of evolution.
This is a series of five robots that are separated by different pens. The video Anthropod Tales is about what I want the robots to appear like to the public. What they actually do is another story. These robots are programmable, meaning they can evolve. Each program I write is the next phase of evolution. So the question becomes how many phases of evolution will it take for these robots to perfectly embody the idealisms I have given them in the videos about each robot. In the mean time, are the robots successfully behaving like an artificial organism. Even more important, do they appear more like an artificial life form in the process of being created then what they will be like when the project is completed? By meddling with the robots, will the artist loose the dynamic behaviour of the robots slowly over time molding them to her ideals or will there character's improve as they are modified and "perfected."
|
Quadra Magnetoconsumous has completed 13 phases of evolution. |
Hexa Infraseekozoid has completed 23 phases of evolution. |
Bounci Vicarioustransis has completed 3 phases of evolution |
Sidewind Externalreactozoid has completed 10 phases of evolution |
All images were taken by Paul Litherland © 2009 Except the two pictures of footprints in the iron filings which were taken by Jessica Field Jessica Field © 2009 Based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada Last updated June 23, 2009 |
