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Event 3: First Robotics Competition World Robotics Championships

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During Week 3, which happened to be during our Robotics and Art unit, I went to the First Robotics Competition’s World Robotics Championships in Houston, Texas to cheer on my brother’s robotics team. The competition was a true representation of how Kelly describes the third culture – art and science coming together for each team to create their masterpiece, filled with the “nerd” culture he describes, but in the best way (Kelly). The robots were designed to be able to play a specific “game,” in which they had to be able to lift cubes onto elevated surfaces to gain points, as well as climb about 2 feet into the air. For the first 30 seconds of the match, the robot had to move autonomously, based on computer coding done by the students. A driver was then allowed to use a remote control to drive the robot around the field, scoring as many points as possible. Robots were designed with various types of claw-like features to grab cubes, “elevators” or arms to place the cubes on high
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Week 9: Space and Art

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I enjoyed this week’s topic a lot, mostly because of my family connection to the topic. My grandfather worked for Rocketdyne, a company that built, among other things, main engines for NASA’s space shuttles, which went into orbit to support the International Space Station (Dunbar). Watching the lectures for this week prompted me to give him a call and ask more about his experience, and he shared with me some information about temperature sensors, turbo plates, and combustion chamber cooling that he specifically helped to develop (Harmon & Roschak). A photo of the space shuttle docking with the ISS It is amazing how important the space race was for not only my grandfather, but also America in general. Due to such contention with Russia, especially after Russia beat the US into space with their satellite, Sputnik, space technology became heavily valued and thus, so did math and science education (Vesna). Landing on the Moon was a proud moment for the United States, as this
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Week 8: Nanotechnology and Art

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I really enjoyed being introduced to nanotechnology this week, as I had not understood much about how it permeates our everyday life in so many ways. I had this mental image of scientists in a lab looking at atoms, very separate from anything I would need to use. However, I had no idea that the leggings I wear every day contain silver nanoparticles to make them microbial (Gimzewski). It is important for people to learn about nanotechnology because many do not realize how it impacts us. For example, using nanotechnology to make different kinds of pesticides or “health” supplements impacts us on a very personal level because it could influence the choices we make about how we fuel our bodies (Gimzewski). With new “health” fads being so influential these days, it is important that we have enough information to make a conscious decision about whether or not something we eat is healthy. Art has such a large role to play in this space because it can help people who are not nano-
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Week 7: Neuroscience and Art

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A lot of this week’s works reminded me of things I learned in Psych 115: Behavioral Neuroscience, where I was first introduced to the work of Santiago Ramon y Cajal and to the “Brainbow” (Vesna). Thanks to the work of Ramon y Cajal, the foundation for brain imaging was laid, and many people have since taken artistic approaches to drawing the brain.  Ramon y Cajal's drawing of the brain While I was doing my midterm project, I found a Brain Art Exhibition from NeuroBureau, which took submissions of artists’ renderings of the brain. Each rendition is very unique and focused on different aspects of the brain, demonstrating just how complex our minds are in their ability to replicate and interpret themselves! In the reading this week, I was struck by how Frazzetto and Anker noted that in our “neuroculture,” we see the brain as a main component of our identities. Indeed, without our own experiences and memories, all of which are stored in our brains, it would be difficult for
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