Our largest priority is pretty clear: get the robots to tell the story. Here is a list of other concerns that should not be at the front of our minds, but certainly in our minds somewhere.

This is not exhaustive. Edit this post with more.

  • The Ball
    • Size/Design/Color.
      • Solid to help hide lack of how it rotates
      • (Victoria) Fluorescent colors could also help visibility–I found neon colored golf balls on Amazon
    • Control Method
    • ideas: ball on a stick. We need to make this. Soon. It’s a third character and deserves thought and iteration. We need to have an operator and determine where the operator is, who it is, and what they will wear (all black)
  • Robot Dressing
    • Skin, ‘Chasis’, Color
    • Covering or Coloring (painting) the non-diegetic parts of the robot (the cone’s arm) black
    • Ultra-Violet effects?
      • Getting the paint, painting
      • Deciding on thematic use of UV
  • Stage Dressing
    • Clearly separating the stage from the audience area since we are using a stage that doesn’t automatically differentiate between the two. (-Nitesh)
    • Lighting (different day cycles, etc). This may feel trivial but it is important to remember that it takes time. We also need to determine who will operate the lighting console, if that is even the route we take.
      • (Victoria) Lighting cues would also be important and should be included in the storyboard.
    • The Road/Pedestrian Path
    • Background dressing
      • Projected image/images?
    • Traffic light hanging/connections
  • Sound Design
    • Aquiring/recording/getting sounds. legally.
      • (Victoria) AudioMicro has free sound effects. We just need to make accounts
    • What narrative trouble will we hit that sound design may be an easy support (yet not total fix) to? Indicating mood/how the audience should be interpreting the robots emotions.
    • How much control over the robot’s sound do we have (…little)
    • What can we do to on the hardware side to muffle robot sounds coming from the pneumatics (-Nitesh)
    • Background sounds (ie: sound of the city, muffle robot operation, etc)
      • Non diegetic sounds:
        • Music.
      • Diegetic sounds
        • “Extra” robot noises/characterization, if any (!)
        • Sounds of the city, the city cycle
        • Sound and/or music indicating the attitude (in a hurry?) of businesspeople
    • Control/Operation method for sounds
  • Performance/Staging
    • Geting/Setting chairs
    • When can/do we set up without disrupting classes in the media lab? Do we have to tear down between performances? How much tear down? Do we have a place in the corner to keep things?
    • Where do we put the air compressor? getting that wired set up
    • Muffling any sounds we want to be muffled (valves and compressor?). Getting and putting thick blankets (last one matte black) over any on-stage hardware…?
    • Can we try to have the robots take a bow along with us after the performance? (-Nitesh)
    • traditional first-show post-show Q&A after? Do we all wear matching black turtlenecks?
  • Documentation
    • Video of the performance. Editing video for internet. (some titles over b-roll of guests filing in, etc)
    • Collecting all video and images we have, assembling into a page/project
    • Interviewing audience members after the show for reactions, feedback, test for understanding/effectiveness, and critique. Getting audience permission to film/interview them, depending.
    • Audience questionaire (with well-designed questions. and a control group who sat in the hallway for 15 minutes)
  • Marketing/Publicity
    • How long will the show last?
    • Finalizing and publishing performance dates
    • Assembly/Design of marketing materials
    • Estimating audience size, getting (informal) RSVP’s from those invited, etc.
    • Getting word out.
  • (Victoria) Blocking and timing
    • We should come up with a series of plan diagrams to show the positions of everyone and robots, as well as the timing of different story beats.
    • Stage directions are also important for human actors as well as robots. Robots won’t obey stage directions but it would help us program them
  • (Job) Last-minute Hardware fixes
    • GateBot Base Pan Joint
    • ConeBot Knee Joint