Let’s Get Hands On

Last Spring, while the weather was still more like Winter in Melbourne I escaped to Brisbane for a couple of days. I was sitting in bed one afternoon and trying to insist on not working. So I turned on the wall mounted television and found the National Geographic channel. I quickly became absorbed in a program about artificial intelligence and robots.

The program talked in the terms of year one million. This a theoretical point in the future when AI & robots would be more advanced than humans and cosmetically hard to distinguish as not human until they beat us in everything we do (I know very relaxing viewing). The familiar dystopian and utopian visions of what this evolution might look like were put forward. The most obvious scenario mixed both up because this is the messy way that humans have coped with advances in technology and social change on the rocky road of history since the start of time.

It was fascinating viewing and not only was I sitting in my bed while I was watching this I was also sitting in my supremacy about how AI and robots couldn’t actually be creative… until my safe seat was blown by a Columbia University robot that is already creatively painting pictures today… yes right now as you read this.

So drawing on the benefit of historic hindsight I thought okay let’s try not to be a Luddite, we can all get along. I cannot not claim to have had any clue on how that would actually work in my practice or any future version of it until I attended the Hermés At Work lecture, The separation between man and machine is shrinking, how will this change craftsmanship? by Sue Keay and Dr Jared Donovan from QUT.

Jared captured my attention with hybrid robotic technologies that can collaborate with people to make things in interactive ways. He showed two examples that could guide a hobbyist where to carve wood or clay for the most beautiful outcome. A skill that would usually take years of applied trial and error to build. These hybrids let you get hands on pretty much the way you normally would if you were making something (not by pushing a button on a computer keyboard).

I immediately wanted a hybrid robot to help me train new artisans, especially to guide the nuance in craft production. Nuance is the hard but necessary element in the pursuit of masterful outcomes. One example of nuance in training our signature hand stitching techniques is knowing you have the right tention on the slik satin binds when your left thumbnail turns white. I love teaching from this depth of mastery but most days I do feel like I need to clone myself…

My sources agree that it is still going to take a long time to build a robot with the complexity of the human hand. In the meantime if you want to join me and the MBP Artisans (who are not robots) to get hands on in a forthcoming workshop return an email with I want to get hands on in the subject line.

PS – Great news! In case you are wondering, you do not have to be an artisan or a robot to join in. The only pre-qualification required is your appreciation.

SINCERELY
Susan Dimasi
DIRECTOR / CREATIVE
MATERIALBYPRODUCT

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