The Creation of Adam, Bob Bosch, used with permission
I always dread the first day of classes. I’m currently getting my master’s in operations research and the first day of class is the time when I start to stand out. In every class, we start by going around the room and saying our name and what we do. It usually goes something like: Bob, military employee; Jim, government contractor; Pete, different government contractor… you get the point. Then comes my turn, “Meredith, Americans for the Arts.” Immediately, heads turn and everybody identifies me as the oddball.
However, there is a growing and little known area of operations research known as “opt art.” This stands for optimization art and this field utilizes optimization algorithms (operations research technology) to make portraits, pictures, and designs. Some of the pictures are created using the classic “traveling salesman problem” where the goal is to reach every point (city) exactly once in the shortest distance. Others are created with knot problems or using a pointillism approach.
Dr. Bob Bosch is applying this technology to make portraits using dominos. He has made several portraits of famous people (like Marilyn Monroe) and will even make you a customized portrait of your loved one.The majority of the applications of operations research apply to business and military decision-making (the field originated after WWII in the military). Operations research is a combination of applied mathematics and statistics to determine the optimal (or near optimal) solution to complex problems. It is closely related to the field of management science (the business application of operations research) and industrial engineering.
Marilyn Monroe Domino Portrait, Bob Bosch, used with permission
I am always amazed at the new and different applications of operations research that I see in the INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) quarterly journal Operations Research. Some of the applications that caught my eye were:
- The optimal training program for a triathlon
- Deciding whether Netflix should impose a due date to their movies
- Building a water irrigation system in New Zealand
- How to respond to an influenza pandemic
However, in my opinion, this is definitely the most visually appealing application of operations research I’ve seen.
For more examples of opt art, please visit Bob Bosch’s TSP Art website or his domino art website.
Popularity: 10%
