Arts in Robotics

Performance + Installation of Medusai by Gil Weinberg and team 
Buses will leave GWCC at 7:30 p.m. and 8:10 p.m., with the performance starting at 8:30 p.m., then return to GWCC at 9:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m., respectively.

A special session of peer-reviewed works

A special session of peer-reviewed works

A special session of peer-reviewed works

A special session of peer-reviewed works

A special session of peer-reviewed works

Full Day Accepted Tutorial

How do we make a machine that indicates changes to its internal state, e.g., goals, attitude, or even emotion, through changes in movement profiles? This workshop will pose a possible direction toward such ends that leverages movement notation as a source for clearly defining abstract concepts of similarity and symbolic representation of the parts and patterns of movement – in order to identify, record and interpret patterns of human movement on both the micro and macro levels. First, we will move together. This will activate an innate ability to imitate each other and, in doing so, illuminate the principal components of Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies and the Body, Effort, Shape, Space, and Time (BESST) System of movement analysis. Next, we will try to write down what we’re doing. A set of symbols for describing elements of the BESST System, which seem to be particularly perceptually meaningful to human observers, will be presented so that movement ideas can be notated and, thus, translated between bodies. We will explore both Labanotation and a related “motif”-style notation. This workshop is supported by NSF award #2234196.

Full Day Accepted Workshop

The intersection of arts and robotics provides opportunities and challenges in the pursuit of developing new robotic technologies. This workshop will provide a retrospective and lively forward-looking discussion about an NSF-funded project that studied the science and engineering of creating and controlling robotic puppets. This project explored multiple aspects of the problem, such as the sequencing and composition of controllers and making meaning with kinematically and dynamically distinct systems. In the morning session, participants will hear from the principal investigators and supporting researchers from this project as well as participate in a hands-on puppetry tutorial. This tutorial will educate participants about the challenges puppeteers face when approaching movement design, reading and executing scores for puppetry plays, and making meaningful performances for audiences from scripted movements. This exploration of prior work will provide an informative, in-depth case study for many researchers interested in interdisciplinary robotics research, particularly collaborating with researchers in the humanities and the arts. In addition to learning from the past, this workshop will look to the future through informative current research collaborations that leverage the arts and interdisciplinary approaches. The afternoon session will have an invited panel that features researchers currently engaged in projects that combine robotics and art across diverse use cases: music, dance, architecture, and healthcare. This session will also provide a poster session, giving current PhD-seeking researchers the opportunity to share their current work and network with other like-minded researchers. The workshop will conclude with a summative breakout session where participants will synthesize the technical and philosophical discussions from the day.