The Robot in the Garden ─ Telerobotics and Telepistemology in the Age of the Internet

The Robot in the Garden initiates a critical theory of telerobotics and introducestelepistemology, the study of knowledge acquired at a distance. Many of our most influentialtechnologies, the telescope, telephone, and television, were developed to provide knowledge at adistance. Telerobots, remotely controlled robots, facilitate action at a distance. Specialists usetelerobots to explore actively environments such as Mars, the Titanic, and Chernobyl. Militarypersonnel increasingly employ reconnaissance drones and telerobotic missiles. At home, we haveremote controls for the garage door, car alarm, and television (the latter a remote for theremote).The Internet dramatically extends our scope and reach. Thousands of cameras and robots arenow accessible online. Although the role of technical mediation has been of interest to philosopherssince the seventeenth century, the Internet forces a reconsideration. As the public gains access totelerobotic instruments previously restricted to scientists and soldiers, questions of mediation,knowledge, and trust take on new significance for everyday life.Telerobotics is a mode ofrepresentation. But representations can misrepresent. If Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" was thedefining moment for radio, what will be the defining moment for the Internet? As artists have alwaysbeen concerned with how representations provide us with knowledge, the book also looks attelerobotics' potential as an artistic medium.The seventeen essays, by leading figures inphilosophy, art, history, and engineering, are organized into three sections: Philosophy; Art,History, and Critical Theory; and Engineering, Interface, and System Design.

Ken Goldberg is Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and founder of the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium at the University of California, Berkeley. His Net art installations include "Dislocation of Intimacy," "Memento Mori," and "The Telegarden."