The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds
Teach a robot to pull a weed. What sounds like a straightforward task comprises an intricate set of actions and complicated ideas of nature. Translating a culturally-defined, ambiguous object (‘a weed’) into successful machine code directions requires human-machine negotiation and reveals emerging...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Jap Sam Books
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Cubic Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cubicjournal.org/index.php/cubic/article/view/58 |
| _version_ | 1797842664686616576 |
|---|---|
| author | Shannon McMullen Fabian Winkler |
| author_facet | Shannon McMullen Fabian Winkler |
| author_sort | Shannon McMullen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Teach a robot to pull a weed. What sounds like a straightforward task comprises an intricate set of actions and complicated ideas of nature. Translating a culturally-defined, ambiguous object (‘a weed’) into successful machine code directions requires human-machine negotiation and reveals emerging nature-technology relationships. The field guide provided here contains instructions for a Taurus dexterous robot, commonly employed in tele-surgery and roadside bomb diffusion. The soybean plant, also addressed in the code and images, is an intentional choice based on the combination of agro-environmental, technological and political issues involved in its cultivation globally. As an artistic experiment based on existing technologies, this visual and prose-based algorithmic narrative asks readers to think about how culture and politics are embedded in computer code, and how both algorithms and data structures may manifest themselves in future environmental and agricultural realities.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:51:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b5ad562fb79b483a9243507258254779 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-7101 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T16:51:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Jap Sam Books |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cubic Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-b5ad562fb79b483a92435072582547792023-04-21T11:33:38ZengJap Sam BooksCubic Journal2589-71012022-12-015510.31182/cubic.2022.5.55The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling WeedsShannon McMullen0Fabian Winkler1Purdue UniversityPurdue University Teach a robot to pull a weed. What sounds like a straightforward task comprises an intricate set of actions and complicated ideas of nature. Translating a culturally-defined, ambiguous object (‘a weed’) into successful machine code directions requires human-machine negotiation and reveals emerging nature-technology relationships. The field guide provided here contains instructions for a Taurus dexterous robot, commonly employed in tele-surgery and roadside bomb diffusion. The soybean plant, also addressed in the code and images, is an intentional choice based on the combination of agro-environmental, technological and political issues involved in its cultivation globally. As an artistic experiment based on existing technologies, this visual and prose-based algorithmic narrative asks readers to think about how culture and politics are embedded in computer code, and how both algorithms and data structures may manifest themselves in future environmental and agricultural realities. https://cubicjournal.org/index.php/cubic/article/view/58critical gardeningcomputer visionartificial intelligenceweedsfuture natures |
| spellingShingle | Shannon McMullen Fabian Winkler The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds Cubic Journal critical gardening computer vision artificial intelligence weeds future natures |
| title | The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds |
| title_full | The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds |
| title_fullStr | The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds |
| title_short | The Algorithmic Gardener’s Field Guide to Pulling Weeds |
| title_sort | algorithmic gardener s field guide to pulling weeds |
| topic | critical gardening computer vision artificial intelligence weeds future natures |
| url | https://cubicjournal.org/index.php/cubic/article/view/58 |
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