Ullanta Performance Robotics



Why Robotic Theater?

One of the most impressive features of behavior based robots is their ability to look like living, intelligent critters that adapt to elements of their environments. Distributed, multi-agent, social robotics aims to generate more interesting robotic behavior through the design and study of systems involving numerous agents. Emotional robotics seeks to understand how emotion influences both individual and social behavior. Artistically, I see performance robotics as the use of these new technologies and concepts to create new experiences in theater - and new challenges for scriptwriters and directors. As a roboticist, I see public performance of aesthetically designed pieces to be a challenging testbed for the abovementioned research areas. Robotic performance pieces, which have to appeal to audiences and take place at scheduled times, demand a standard of robustness, adaptivity, and interaction that few laboratory experiments display. The casting of robots in dramatic roles,as a side benefit, allows us some justification for the anthropomorphizing all us robot-folk tend to do...


Maintained by Barry Brian Werger... Mail comments!