Humanization - Dehumanization: NAO Robot Residency
2020
At the six-week art residency YOUTH AND A.I. (UN) LEARNING WITH ROBOTS, organized by the Goethe Institute-Bratislava, the Slovak Design Center and the Sensorium Festival, was attended by a visual-conceptual artist duo – Emma Záhradníková and Richard Kučera Guzmán. Richard has been recently focusing on projects in which he explores the relationship among technology, art and society. Emma is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, program Digital arts.The duo has spent six weeks working in the research department of the Slovak Design Center – Inolab, where they were exploring the possibilities of NAO6 robot. In collaboration with visiting artist Tomáš Danielis and the team of scientists, they involved students aged 10 to 14 in this project.
In the "game" with the robot, various groups of children perceived its behaviour, which is limited by its technological and material properties. Over the course of several encounters, the robot was gradually educated, and at the same time humanized. One of the conclusions of their work is capturing the relationship between man and robot, which represents a digital personality with artificial intelligence. The research and art process analyzed the behavior of children from several perspectives – psychological, social and cognitive.Can we determine the boundaries of perceived reality - where does the reality begin and end? The images we have created are based on the cognitive functions and combined with our acquired knowledge. These perceptions are processed by our mind and they create our interpretive reality. Systems exhibiting signs of artificial intelligence try to mimic these processes.
The interpretation of reality also takes place in the dialogue between Emma and the robot. In the given image, a photograph from an urban environment is used as a background for the conversation. The installation admits the installation of photography and its presence draws our attention to the dystopic perception of the dialogue, as the simulation of the urban environment is located in the interior of the studio.
During the conversation, the robot is perceived as a thinking empathic being, but its autonomous understanding of the world as well as its authenticity is questioned by the objects already mentioned. In addition to its autonomy, the dialogue with the robot is man-made on the basis of suggestions from children. In our research, children had the opportunity to ask the robot questions - what they would like to teach him, how he would like to be called, how he could help us or how he would show emotions. We also included children in the research because they can express their opinion immediately and honestly.
Organisator / Goethe-Institut Bratislava, Slovak Design Center, Sensorium Festival
Team of specialists / Zlatica Jursová, Dusan Kostrub, Viacheslav Basaliukov
Artists of the residency / Emma Zahradníková, Richard Guzmán
Visiting artist / Tomas Danielis