Friday, January 29, 2010

Do the robot!

Last night I was watching t.v. and an ad came on for some car company. I don't know which one, I don't really care about cars, but they showed an assembly line with those rows and rows of yellow painted robot arms all tinkering in unison and because I am the kind of person that I am, I thought, "That's kind of hot".

I've always been fascinated by machinery. I always linger by construction sites when the cranes are in motion. I love those impossibly gigantic earth moving machines. Oily gears and metal chains have always turned my crank. Crash by J.G. Ballard is one of my favorite books. Then add to all that the suggestion of human activity. After all, these machines are replacing what human hands used to do. They are huge, yet doing the most delicate precise movements. They are bulky, but glide gracefully like ballet dancers that have had their feet nailed to the floor. They're all in unison like a Busby Berkeley* choreography each with it's own very specific task it does perfectly over and over and over again.



* There is so much in this little clip to talk about but I'll leave it up to someone else.

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