Nothing says “future” like a robot. And that’s not just science fiction.
Automation really has transformed the nature of work.
The Unimate 1900 was the very first industrial robot, inspired partly by the science fiction writings of Isaac Asimov. Though designed to relieve workers from repetitive or dangerous tasks, it could also do tricks. On The Tonight Show in 1966, it knocked a golf ball into a cup and poured a beer.
Today people worry that the Unimate’s successors are putting humans out of work. Advocates, however, point to the great promise that automation holds to improve productivity.
The Mineral Rover, a prototype from X, the Moonshot Factory, uses artificial intelligence to understand each individual plant to help farmers use less water and fewer chemicals and produce more food.
Unimate, Mark II Industrial Robot
Mineral Rover
United Farm Workers Union Protest
Dolores Huerta and César Chávez Futurist Portraits
Industrial robot, hydraulic-pneumatic, one-armed
Fiberglass and metal
Description: A black and white photo of the Unimate industrial robot in action. The unimate arm is a robotic arm. The arm sits on a box and has a flat top. The claw of the arm hangs from the front of the box. It is taking something out of a box. The box has smoke coming out from it. The object the Unimate arm is holding also has smoke surrounding it. The arm is in a factory.
The First Industrial Robot
The Unimate, Mark II is a silver robotic arm. The arm sits on a box. The arm has a flat top. It has two holes in the front of the box to attach the claw. It has “UNIMATE” in red text printed on the side of the arm.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Donated by the Family of George C. Devol.
2020
Aluminum and steel, plastic, solar panels, lithium batteries, high-performance computers
Description: An autonomous vehicle about the size of a small car. It is shaped like a table or carport with a flat top, two flat side panels, and open space in the center. There are four wheels. It is silver with a light blue top. There are four solar panels on top. It has two circular lights on the front of the robot.
Better Farming through AI
Experts predict that by 2050 we will need to grow 70 percent more food than we do today. To achieve this in a sustainable way, we’ll need to reimagine what we grow and how we grow it. The Mineral Rover was created to meet this challenge. It scans and maps plants in the field and uses artificial intelligence to understand important features, such as leaf size and fruit count. It can even detect diseases and weeds. Farmers can then use these insights to increase yields while reducing environmental impacts.
Credit: X, the Moonshot Factory
Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farm Workers Union
Xavier Viramontes, 1973
Offset lithograph on paper (reproduction)
Description: A graphic poster of a man in Aztec clothing squeezing grapes. The text reads, “Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farmworkers Union.” The dominant colors of this poster are blue, red, orange, and yellow. There is a symbol of a black eagle included.
Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tomás Ybarra-Frausto
Join the Boycott—Don’t Buy Gallo Wines (reproduction)
Description: A poster of a black and white photo of protestors. The protestors have flags and signs. The members are mostly middle aged, with one child included. The red, bold text reads, “Join the Boycott! Don’t Buy Gallo Wines!”
Credit: Division of Political and Military History, National Museum of American History
Demanding a Fairer Agricultural System
This poster shows a man in Aztec dress squeezing blood from a bunch of grapes. It was used to support the Delano grape strike in California, led by activists Dolores Huerta and César Chávez. Begun in 1965, the strike succeeded after five years of difficult struggle.
Civil Rights Activists
Description: A portrait of César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. The portrait is digitally created based on a photograph. It is a multicolored portrait made up of plants. Brown is the dominant color. Dolores looks out in the distance. She has long brown hair. César looks into the distance. He has a serious expression. He has short brown hair. He wears a collared shirt. The back of the banner is a brown print of a farm worker, plant, and cattle.
“. . . Every person [is] a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”
—Dolores Huerta
Sometimes, making a better future means saying “no” to the present. As founders of the National Farm Workers Association, Dolores Huerta (born 1930) and César Chávez (1927–1993) stood up for the rights of California’s agricultural workers. They pushed for better wages and working conditions. Their activism pointed to new ways of balancing commercial interests and community welfare. Their influence has traveled far and wide: Barack Obama adapted his slogan “Yes We Can” from Huerta’s “Sí, se puede.”
Credit: This portrait was made by artist Nettrice Gaskins using Deep Dream Generator, a computer vision program that uses artificial intelligence to generate new and complex images.