Victoria
When I think of robots and performance, I think of avant-garde ballets that artists from the Bauhaus movement used to stage. This was just a bit of inspiration for me as I thought of my problem statement.
Central Questions
I am personally interested in dance, namely how to convey movement that also corresponds to the pitch and narrative that music conveys. Rhythm for movement can be easily mastered with enough time and thought. But what about the other aspects of music, such as change in pitch, tempo, chord progression, etc.? Just as dancers base their movements on musical patterns that they pick up, how can a robot respond to the subtle and complex nuances of musical articulation? This is a broad proposal that I hope to narrow down as I specify my objectives.
- Artistic objective: I want to tell the story of two small, simpler robots who represent shoes that are separated. As they search for each other, they try to match each other’s rhythm or performance in order to recognize each other. Gradually as the performance progresses, they will begin to sync up naturally as though they were one performer dancing in the pair of shoes that they formed. The story ends on a triumphant note, like a dancer striking a final pose. This narrative highlights the difficulty in communication between very different entities, as well as the triumph and happiness of having a moment of understanding.
- Performance objective: Having the robots hop to conflicting rhythms or articulation in a song and move in zigzag patterns around each other would show the confusion that they experience as they try to find each other. Eventually the robots will mimic a dancer’s movements as though one person were controlling both of them.
- Technical objective: The goal here would be to initially have two autonomous performing robots that would eventually act as one performer dancing in a pair of shoes. This may require a team of 3 people to control the robots–2 at the beginning, and 1 when the robots join. However, it would be more convenient to have the two separate robots respond to different stimuli in music so they would be able to develop their own movement patterns autonomously.
Creative Constraints
Due to restrictions on time and materials, the robots would not be able to jump or shuffle as freely as a human dancer would. Having a few simple movements programmed in such as pivots, small leaps, or twirls would help the robots move and eventually be combined to have a convincing performance as a single dancer. Another thing to consider would be attaching shoes to long mobile pneumatic devices overhead to allow for more flexibility in vertical movement.
Limitations of Scope
Having a full stage for this performance would cause the shoes to be lost onstage, so a much smaller stage (10′ by 10′) would be necessary. I see this performance as a one-act story that would last for a 3-4 minute song. I had this one in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU. Here the focus is on only the movements of these two robots instead of how energetic the music is.
Measures of Scope
- How many people pay attention to the performance by focusing on one robot at the beginning? How about when the robots come together?
- Does the audience see the robots more as characters than robots?
- Are the shoes’ movements natural, as though a human were dancing in them?
- Do the robots move gracefully to a believable rhythm?
- Does the show start and end on time?
- Do the robots move without pausing for too long?
- How many times did the robots pause unnecessarily?
- How often did the audience clap for the robots as though they were real performers?
- Do the robots stay onstage?
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