Creativity and Machine Design
Robots and machines have become very prevalent within recent years. We use robots to assemble cars, explore dangerous areas, and even as servants to clean our houses. In the future, we might even see robots help in delicate complex tasks like performing surgery. Many people think that the process that goes behind designing a robot is unimaginative, involving a lot of dull equations and assembly lines. In reality, the design process can be very creative.
While the process behind designing a machine is creative, it should be noted though that eventually engineers were going to design robots to perform these tasks. Leonardo Da Vinci sketched early ideas for a helicopter in the thirteenth century, which only became a reality in twentieth century. Robotic maids that can clean the house was a futuristic idea that was seen in the 1960's cartoon "The Jetsons", but the idea of having a robot vacuum the floor has only became popular in the last year or so with iRobot's Roomba. Once engineers found the way to control their machines through the use of microcontrollers and programming, the cost effectiveness and precision of machines enabled them to be used in a wide variety of tasks. Although the ideas for the next tasks for machines may not be creative, the process that goes into developing that machine is a creative process.
One of the most popular vacuum cleaners at this time is iRobot's Roomba. The creative engineering behind the Roomba enables the robot to much less expensive when compared to other robotic vacuums of the same size. Most of the other robots use a complex set of sensors and integrated programming to navigate across a floor. The Roomba on the other hand uses a creative and inexpen...
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...ecause the ideas of others can stifle and interfere with their own ideas, losing a potentially important idea. The first thing to do when attacking a design problem is to get all the necessary information. If this is not possible, the creative engineer will perform an experiment to find the necessary information.
Bibliography
Brooks, Rodney. "Artificial life: From Robot Dreams to Reality". Nature 406 (2000): 945-947. Retrieved May 10, 2004, from www.nature.com
Hanson, T. F. Engineering Creativity. Newhall, CA: 1987.
Osborn, Alex F. Applied Imagination. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1957.
Sheehan, John C. "On Applied Science". The Creative Mind and Method. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1960. pp. 95-97.
Singer, Irving. Feeling and Imagination: The Vibrant Flux of Our Existence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2001.
The poem above speaks volumes about the nature of man’s best friend. Dogs are not inherently created bad, but are rather “a product of its environment”. The same principle applies to the world’s most misunderstood breed of dog. When you hear the phrase “pit bull”, what do you think of? A savage beast, murdering out of cold blood? A menace to society, lurking the streets, just waiting for its next victim? This couldn’t be further from the truth for most pit bulls. These fantasised versions plague the breed, outlawing them in many cities, states, and even some countries entirely. These bans are called Breed Specific Legislation (BSL), and in over 700 American cities these laws are in effect. They are in place to decrease the number of attacks
...ports Illustrated cover photo of a pit bull (Pit Bull Rescue Central, "Breed Information”). Dog fighting made a comeback during the 1980s and the pit bull became the favorite macho dog for dog fighters. The dogs were trained to kill or be killed. Pit bulls were also the preferred guard dog for gangs, thugs and criminals. Since the supporters and detractors of pit bulls hold such disparate opinions regarding the ferocity of the breeds, it is only hoped that further discussion and education will help resolve the sad fate that awaits these unfortunate animals. Simply placing all the blame on the breeds will not solve the problems of dog fighting, overbreeding, aggressive training, and excessive euthanizations. Lastly, the biased, sensationalistic publicity of horrific dog attacks which has destroyed the reputation of the once beloved All American Dog must cease.
What do you think of when I say the word pitbull? Do you picture a cute happy dog, wagging its tail happy to see you? Or do you see a mad dog, foaming mouth lunging at small child? If you are a owner of a pitbull then you probably see the happy cute dog. But if you don't own one then chances are you see pitbulls as mean dogs who are a threat to society. The media has painted a picture in our heads that it's in a pitbulls blood to be aggressive. Due to this false accusation, certain cities have banned breeds labeled as “aggressive”. If someone is caught owning a banned breed, the dog is usually euthanized. This is known as Breed Specific Laws or otherwise known as BSL.
Robotic Surgery is an emerging technology that utilizes purpose-built robots to perform surgical procedures on patients. At present these robots are not autonomous, they are controlled by a surgeon at all times.
Sporre, Dennis J. The Creative Impulse: An Introduction to the Arts. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996. 310-378.
Pit bulls are the most misunderstood breed in todays society. Dogs have been bred and used for hunting, guarding, protection, and fighting for ages. Therefore, most of the time they naturally become hostile if they are not taught differently. Humans play an important role when owning a dog. You need to have the time and patience to train the animal so it does not become disgruntled.
Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns and finding connections among unrelated patterns (Roger von Oech. Expect the Unexpected).
Robots are made out of metal, plastic, aluminum, gears, bolts, wheels, sensors, memory chips, and other gadgets.
In 2013 a news team from Oklahoma reported on a story where a Pit Bull alerted its sleeping owners to a fire that destroyed their home. In the report, it states “A 10-year-old pit bull terrier is being hailed a hero after she saved a Lincoln County family from their burning home” (KOCO). Within six words the breed “Pit Bull” is brought up in a positive manner. The news article goes on to talk about how the dog not only saved its owners, but the other family dogs as well, and how the family considers the dog to be their hero. Another dog in Pennsylvania named Lou also had the chance to save his family from their burning home. In January of 2015 Chris Julian and Kelly Yarbrough were awoken by their rescue dog Lou when their house was on fire. The family told Q13 Fox News of the event and even stated “The fire was coming through the door and the dog saved our lives and if it wasn 't for him, we 'd all be dead right now”. False myths from the media, as well as negative human influences have led to a horrible misunderstanding of a wonderful breed of dog. The American Pit Bull Terrier is loving, sweet, protective animal that needs to be given another chance in society. How can a society truly be free of discrimination of any kind if it is still discriminating dogs that are forced to fight? If the government were to put in more effort to bring the end of dog fighting this stereotype very well could be
Willis, Paul. "Symbolic Creativity." Everyday Life Reader. Ed. Ben Highmore. Great Britain: Routledge, 2002. 282-294.
"The human aspiration to create intelligent machines has appeared in myth and literature for thousands of years, from stories of Pygmalion to the tales of the Jewish Golem." Anat Treister-Goren, Ph.D. (http://www.a-i.com/)
It is a shared truth that humans often tend to think of robots as nothing more than computer machines made of objects like metal, plastic, silicone and computer chips. However, in truth, a robot’s general purpose is more complex than some know. In order for a robot to function, it must carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations, and programming the specs is difficult task that could take years to finish depending on the purpose of the robot.
The operations of the robots have also advanced from simple hard-stop, one-function, hydraulic actuated robots to the more sophisticated, high-precision, servo controlled robots that can be reprogrammed to do many different jobs.
Groover, Mikell P., Mitchell Weiss, Roger N. Nagel, and Nicholas G. Odrey. Industrial Robotics: Technology, Programming and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. Print.
In case of emergencies, robots could reduce the percentage of fatal damages that occurs through these cases. In fact, humans’ lives are much valuable and precious rather than robots, in which societies could use robots to scarify through the dangerous situation for the sake of rescuing people. In addition, dangerous situations such as firefighting or earthquake require much effort, precision, and scarifying in the evacuation process. Furthermore, a beneficial feature that could help robots to coexist through the risky situations easily and preform the rescuing mission perfectly is that robots do not have feelings or emotions. According to Bruemmer (2006), robots do not have the ability to realize or notify any aspect that people do not programmed them to do. In other words, robots are merely machines that cannot feel or recognize what surrounding them without a sophisticated program done by humans. Therefore, as robots do not have the ability of feeling or knowing they could go through inhumane conditions for saving people. Moreover, robots have various capabilities that make them unique enable them to do heavy duties and bear more serio...