Work in The Presidio

I walked along Crissy Field a couple of times reading the infographics about the Foredune Habitat Restoration along the beach and the purpose of these plants to the Presidio’s ecosystem. What initially drew my interest towards the plants was the fence they lived in, which was to keep them protected from trampling by humans. I began to think of how a robot could be used to protect the plants and why. They have a fence, which seems to be doing a good enough job because they didn’t look trampled on. Right? Well, I kept going back to this logic of the fencing being enough, but still wanting to tap into the possibility of the robot as protector.

I did talk with the Visitor’s Center, which did not yield much information except a Parks Conservancy volunteer contact named Alex Hooker who works with maintaining the fencing and plants within the Crissy Field’s beach area. Since I was not 100% percent sure whether I could get far enough in creating a robot for this area of interest, I kept on observing the Presidio for other possibilities.

It was kind of funny because as I was struggling to walk along the beach—sand and walking in shoes just don’t mix—my eyes kept looking back and forth to the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean. Then I saw a boat and would go back to the bridge and ocean. It eventually struck me the idea of water pollution from our industrial living. I have heard through the grapevine about the Bay’s waters being polluted due to such industries as the Port of Oakland and with industry in such close proximity, I began to wonder how much of an effect it maybe having on the Presidio. From my observations for this inquiry, I could not find much except what I visually saw with the bridge, boats, housing, cars, and other everyday industrial happenings and what I heard about in the past. So, after spending a good time walking along the Crissy Field beach several times and even heading up to the hiking areas near the walk through to the Golden Gate Bridge, I left the Presidio with no concrete idea for my robot, but some areas of interests to tap into, nonetheless.

From my initial idea of the Foredune robot protector, I can relate it to Turkle’s work in regards of understanding why a robot is or is not needed for a specific purpose. I saw the fence as a resolve, which a robot may end up being unnecessary. As when Turkle’s robots were assigned to the nursery home, it makes you think whether these robots were necessary when all these elders really needed was human connection. But, then again, if these fences aren’t doing the job they were assigned to do, then maybe a robot (who is closer to the functions of a human than a fence, in regards to, being programmed to monitor and respond when someone tramples a plant and/or crosses a certain boundary that puts the plants in danger, which enables protection, maybe on a better scale) maybe the answer. Turkle’s robots sent to the nursery home provided a connection for these elders that was lacking due to various factors (i.e. their children not being present regularly, the nursing homes not being able to accommodate the elders through showing interest in their needs and wants, and so on), which may have been the needed antidote for their situation. Another aspect of Turkle’s work that can relate to my robot is paying attention to those things we take for granted. Reading about Turkle’s findings on the interaction of robots with children and adults put in perspective how much we are missing in our engagement with life. From simply observing an object such as the Golden Gate Bridge, it spiraled into observing how we live our lives with cars and how much more of an effect it has from the everyday occurrences of driving. With the little research I have done, thus far, on water pollution I was surprised to find that cars are one of the biggest pollutants not from only driving or pumping gas, but majorly through leaking oil or washing your car and the remnants going down into storm drains. I am starting to see how this goes beyond the surface. Turkle’s book reaches a great depth of research via observation that provided her with an in depth view of robots in our lives, which is a great tool in how I go about my research and robotic creation.