The Czech writer Karel Capek used the term « robot » for the first time in the context of a play called « Rossum’s Universal Robots » (or « R.U.U ») in 1921. The play staged a man who created a robot that would kill him later on. The irony is fascinating, with robotics we are creating our best ennemis. In order to prevent such a situation, twenty years later (in 1942), the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote in his short story « Runaround » the « Three Laws of Robotics » which are:
1 A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2 A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3 A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
In later books, Asimov added a zeroth law:
0 A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
These rules avoid a situation where robots could take the control of our humanity and become stronger and more powerful than us.
For this project, I tried to consider both digital and physical worlds to create my Light Following Drawbot. I wanted to establish a connection and interaction between the created robot and us, as humans. With this project I want the robot and the human to be reconciled and I want them to collaborate in the artistic world to bring some novelty in the tracing of a drawing.
I want to mix technology with electronics and ancient techniques. That’s why the user control the drawbot with the flashlight of his smartphone, to make the drawbot « walk » and « draw » (thanks to the code transferred on the arduino). By bringing together different medias I try to give the project another dimension.
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