Week 4: MedTechArt

Robot-Assisted Surgery 

Before this week my knowledge on Medicine-Art-Technology was very limited. Like many things discussed in this class thus far I was surprised by the connection. I remember having a conversation with someone in my friend circle one time and learning that her brother worked for a company that sold a tool that essentially did the surgery for one. It was known as robot-assisted surgery and nowadays it is seen as the future of medicine. Professor Vesna in her lecture part 2 described how technology in hospitals was only brought about more recently in the 20th century starting with a microscope and has evolved to state of the art x-rays and what not and will continue to take off.



While watching the lecture videos something else that came to my mind was the prosthetic leg. These are a perfect example of something that has been designed as having a function and also being a form of art and expression for one's self. Prosthetic legs can have various different functions and are made for various events such as running and casual. Again as technology has gotten better so have these and they will only continue to be more and more functional.

Running prosthetic leg

In addition, something I found interesting was the work of Kevin Warwick. His ideas and work essentially made sci-fi movies come to life and make me look at life from a different perspective and how advanced we are capable of becoming. He talked about in the Project Cyborg having an implant that would be able to access personal information about yourself which is fascinating. It is scary to think about what us as humans are capable of doing.

Chip Implant in body 

"Women with Prosthetic leg". Envato Market.  https://photodune.net/item/close-up-of-athlete-woman-with-prosthetic-leg-running/22333851

Chip Implant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmFeXC_b-Uk

"Robot-Assisted Surgery". Franciscan Health. https://www.franciscanhealth.org/health-care-services/robotic-assisted-surgery-334

Warwick, Kevin. "Project Cyborg 1.0" Kevin Warwick, 1998. 

Vesna, Victoria. “Human Body & Medical Technologies.” Cole UC online. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2019.

This past week I visited the Meteorite Collection in the Geology building at UCLA. In my four years here at UCLA I have never been there, but I was very happy that I was able to go there and really see exhibits I had never seen anything like before. Even more, fascinating is that it is the 5th largest exhibit in the United States and most people have no idea that it even resides at UCLA.

Me at the exhibit (unfortunately no one was working today)

When thinking of this in terms of what we have learned here at UCLA. One of the exhibits that really stood out to me was the Esquel pallasite piece which was found in 1951 in Argentina. The colors of this mass are beautiful and you can study it in a way where you are thinking about the science and the artistic features at the same time just how we have been in this class. There is a link to everything not just being about the science but how everything is also a form and expression of art.

My favorite 

In addition, NASA, who are the ones who are finding things like this are just as much artistic as they are scientific. They are capturing images and turning it into something that us on earth can relate to and really read into. As times are changing so is what NASA is doing and they will continue to be using those links between science and art.

Photos that NASA has captured 

When thinking about an exhibit like this I never would have looked at in an artistic way, but that just goes to prove how much my perceptions have changed since starting this class. I would highly recommend visiting this fascinating exhibit.

Robots are something that have been talked about for decades now and have often been a topic that I have talked with my family about. When I think of a robot I usually think of a non-living human who can do actions just as if they were human, but I have learned that after this week I am way off on that assumption. I never knew where they really came about until now. In the lecture Pt. 2 Professor Vissin, discusses how the printing press and the assembly line were the beginning of this idea of "separating actions into pieces."



                              (Then)

https://sites.tufts.edu/benmichelenp61/2018/02/21/ergonomics-of-assembly-lines/

(Robot Version)

https://www.123rf.com/photo_88133619_3d-rendering-cyborg-control-robot-assembly-line-in-car-factory.html

The word robot in itself derives from the Czech term robota which means "self labor" coined by author Karl Capek in the play "Rossums Universal Robots". Since the beginning of the term, the evolution of the robot has only taken off. We can see just how much it has taken off by looking at artists such as Ken Fiengold and his creation of "If/Then" in 2001. The robot heads that he created look almost on par with what a real human head should look like and it was made out of material such as "silicone, pigments, and fiberglass" which is not something you typically think a robot can be made out of.


In no time robots will be invading our everyday lives and that is something Rodney Brooks talks about in his TED talk. He discusses how we are "on the border of being invaded by robots and in no time at all we will be surrounded by them". We have already seen our childhood toys being turned into robot-like things with moving eyes and what not and as David Hanson described in his TED talk, "robots will think and act as you by making expressions, making eye contact" so its only a matter of time before we see what is next and what robots will be capable of. In some ways, I think a robot evolution will be cool, but in other ways, I think it will also take a lot away from other people like jobs.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/robot-babies-may-increase-teen-birth-rate-says-new-study

Online, UC. “Robotics pt2.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=255&v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk.

- Hanson, David. “Robots That ‘Show Emotion.’” TED, www.ted.com/talks/david_hanson_robots_that_relate_to_you/up-next.

- Brooks, Rodney. “Robots Will Invade Our Lives.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/rodney_brooks_on_robots/up-next

Feingold, Ken "If/Then". (2001) http://www.kenfeingold.com/

Capek, Karl "Rossums Universal Robots." 25 Jan. 1921.

When I hear the words Math, Science, and Art, my mind instantly drifts to three different categories. To me, these things have always been separate. For instance, in school, we always took these classes as three separate subjects so there never really seemed to be any correlation between the three of them. After watching this weeks lecture and readings I can see just how much my vision has been skewed and there really are many similarities between the three and for one of them to happen there the other category must be present.


A point in the lecture that the professor made that really stuck to me was when she spoke about the mathematical rules about vanishing points and perspective. Perspective is so important for a painting to come to life and make it at all possible. This has always been the case for artists since the day they began painting, we just never thought of it like that. An artist is just as much a mathematician as they are artists.

In addition, when looking at Robert Langs Mathematical Origami, we can see just how much math plays into what he is creating. I found it interesting how he had his own design tools in creating these pieces when most people just think of origami as folding paper and nothing really that special to it. By having math and science incorporated it really brings these pieces to life.
















Finally, one last area that I found was the concept of music and computers and especially the part about sound. When I think of music I do not think about the connection of physics and perception like the reading did. Sound is represented by soundwaves and has their own mathematical term "function" surround them. Whether we see it or not math, science, and art are all around us and surround everything we do in our everyday life. A scientist is just as much an artists and mathematician.









Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov” YouTube. 9 April 2012. Web. 14 April 2019.

Frantz, Mark. “Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art.” Vanishing Points, UCSF, 2000, www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf.

Lang, Robert. “The Math and Magic of Origami.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.

Burk, Phil. "Music and Sound." Lesson 1: Sound "http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/MusicAndComputers/chapter1/01_01.php"

Unit 1: Two Cultures

In the article by " The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution," the author CP Snow argues how there are two separate cultures present in our society today with that begin the literary and scientific. To put it in my own words their is an art and a science and they are completely separate from each other. Not only are these two completely separate but they represent different lifestyles for people and communities and thus leading to stereotypes as discussed in Week 1 lecture.



Here at UCLA, I have noticed that yes there is a clear divide between the arts and the science majors but they are beginning to become more and more intertwined. For instance, many science majors are challenging this idea by picking up a minor in the arts such as film, or desma. Back in the day, it was more common for you to pick one path and stick to that path, but today it is more common to not just take one path but to mix it up and it is ok to not know what you want to do.

In the article "Toward a Third Culture" something I found interesting is how the author describes how the artistic abilities are somewhat a science now with "many similarities between their "creative processes." I feel like I can really see this idea play out today. My dad is an engineer which is considered a science, but at the same time, he is designing things for his company to use and in some sense that could be considered an art. Both science and art are required for many professions to be able to thrive in today's day and age. 

I think by UCLA having us take many classes across the science and art department we are able to really figure out what we are doing or what we want to do. We do not have to limit ourselves to one thing and can branch out which I know some other countries do not allow. For instance, in Europe, most degree programs are limited to three years and you choose a path before you even begin so if you do not like the path you start on it becomes very difficult to change over and start something new, which we can at UCLA. 

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1959. Print

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print

Forrester, Sumarie. "Modeling Art vs Science Part II." Analytics One. Retrieved from http://www.analyticalones.com/modeling-art-vs-science-what-is-a-model-part-ii/

Abrams, Michael. "The Intersection of Art and Engineering." ASME. Retrieved https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/construction-and-building/intersection-of-art-and-engineering

Deviant Art. "North vs South Campus UCLA." Retrieved https://www.deviantart.com/silverwing1310/art/North-vs-South-Campus-UCLA-199654234.