Artificial Affection

Can a robot fall in love? Well, no, obviously not. Robots are machines made of metal frames, actuators, sensors, and other unfeeling, unthinking components. The control systems, similarly, are computer algorithms that know and feel nothing, mindlessly looping through their long sequences of mathematical operations that were programmed by humans.

Or at least that is the way that boring engineers, such as myself, look at it. Artists, on the other hand, see the world in a different way. Artists like David Bowen see something more magical in the interaction between the hardware and software components of a robot. Bowen’s latest creation, called “the two” consists of a pair of robots that interact with one another in such a way that they might be mistaken for lovers, if we can suspend our disbelief for long enough to see it, that is.

The installation is composed of two identical robotic arms, each equipped with a camera at its end. In both cases, the cameras feed their images into a computer vision algorithm that recognizes and tracks the other robot. As new data comes in, the models are refined, which helps them better lock onto one another over time.

The result is something like a dance, where each robot tries to get a better look at the other. Sometimes the algorithm may misfire, leading one of the robots to go astray. That would normally be considered a bug, but in this context, perhaps it is more of a lovers’ quarrel.

It may actually be just hardware and algorithms all the way down, but we are fortunate to have those like Bowen that help us to see things from a different perspective. If this project were left to engineers, the second robot would have been replaced with a mirror in the name of efficiency. And while something in me wants to point out every area for improvement I see, I think a more appropriate response is to close my mouth, look intently, and let my mind wander. Everything in the world isn’t a problem to solve.