It seems that there had been a consensus in the last planning meeting I attended to have a dynamically moving robot (or pair) trying to understand or adapt to its environment to perform in our show with minimal human involvement onstage.

While there had been some disagreement over how many robots to include in the performance, I still believe that if our story concept calls for it, we should have at least 2 robots. One could have more complex movements while the other could make simple motions in one axis and be attached to one pneumatic device.

A lot of us had agreed on having the robot perform some form of slapstick comedy, so currently I’m trying to figure out how to add humor to my initial ideas while taking into account other ideas that we had agreed on during our meeting.

I had seen a video of our robotic prototype cleanly hitting a golf ball, which I think is great progress and can definitely shape the story that would drive our performance. It’s awesome that just getting out there and making something regardless of how it may or may not relate to a story can strongly inform our concept with its motion. The simple movement of hitting a ball can tell a much larger story.

I have some suggestions to our story given the prototype’s kicking movement, most of which fall under the category of slapstick comedy and interactivity:

-This robot (which I’ve named Golfie) can accidentally kick another robot, which can give pain signals such as flashing colorful LED’s, distressed beeping (or any other sound effect that can indicate comedic pain). Golfie’s main job involves that “kicking” motion, so it could be a sweeper bot, a simple robot that just loves mini-golf, or a traffic-directing robot that somehow got caught up with the more complex robot character that disrupts its mundane activities. In this story, Golfie is not the protagonist but a supporting character. If Golfie ends up being the mini-golf fanatic, it could have a flashing number 4 on it as a nice little pun and indicator of its purpose and obsession with this activity.

-Maybe Golfie could indirectly teach the other robot (which I’ve unofficially named Student) how to play mini-golf. We wouldn’t have to build an entire mini-golf course, but we’d have to construct a basic course (the hole could just be a little wooden box) and a simple golf ball dispenser for each of the robots.

Story Beats

1. Golfie is introduced, with a 4 on front of it. It is about to hit a ball into the hole.
2. Student wanders onto the set and gets in the way of Golfie hitting the ball, taking the hit and showing signs of comedic pain.
3. Student whirs and spins out of the way.
4. Golfie dispenses a new ball and hits it. It makes a happy sound when the ball falls into the hole.
5. Student watches with fascination, then kicks a stray golf ball offstage.
6. Golfie whirs loudly, getting Student’s attention. Golfie makes some swinging motions, which Student copies, then with great finesse hits the ball into the hole.
7. Student finds another golf ball and hits it into Golfie.
8. Golfie makes angry sounds and goes offstage.
9. Student hits a golf ball into the hole and makes a happy sound.

The characters are simple: Golfie is a robot that is obsessed with mini-golf to the point of being oblivious and wants to spread the joy of playing this game. Student is confused by the rules of mini-golf and wants to learn, but is also very obnoxious. Student also may or may not want to get back at Golfie for accidentally hitting them.