Day 1: (Tue Aug 27) Welcome and Introduction

Notes for 2019-08-27. See also the Fall 2019 Calendar.

Agenda

1. Welcome to 16-375/54-375 Robotics for Creative Practice!

   • scope and style of the course

   • IDeATe “Physical Computing” minor

   • 16-375 is a good course for the IDeATe Physical Computing Minor

   • collaboration and reflection

   • major objective: live performances on a shared platform

   
   

2. Administrative

   • Course site: https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/16-375

     • Daily log pages (like this one): Daily Agenda Logbook

     • Calendar: Fall 2019 Calendar

     • 16-375 project site

   • Laser cutter policies: these have changed for F19.

     • Laser cutter safety training courses: see IDeATe Laser Cutter Policy

     • New buddy system: don’t ever cut alone. Lasers will be available 10AM-10PM (no more middle of the night).

     • New mandatory IDeATe training, even for previous users: 4:30PM on Sep 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11.

     • Fire Extinguisher training. Sign up via BioRaft, convenient sessions will be in HL A5 on Sep 3 at 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00.

   • Attendance and tardiness policies.

   • Electronic device policies.

   • Resources

     • 16-375-F19 Canvas.

     • Card access.

     • Hunt A5 project area.

     • IDeATe Computing Virtual Cluster.

     • Office hours: TBD

3. In-class

   1. See discussion notes.

   2. Face photos.

   3. Mutual introductions, In-Class Exercise: Interview Game, skill survey.

   4. If time permits, look at related work:

      1. 16-375 Fall 2018

      2. 16-376 Kinetic Fabrics Spring 2019

      3. Louis-Philippe Demers

      4. “Acrobot” Underactuated Inverted Pendulum

      5. Bruce Shapiro

      6. Jacob Tonski

Discussion notes

For reference: Course Description

1. definitions of “Robotics”

   • AI-oriented: the integration of sensing, cognition, and action

   • Engineering: the discipline of integrating mechanism, software and electronics

   • Industrial: programmable tools

   • Cultural: machines which emulate humans

   • Our working definition: surprisingly animate machines which produce embodied behavior using both algorithms and physical dynamics

   
   

2. definitions of “Creative Practice”. In various contexts:

   • art gallery

   • theater

   • advertising

   • consumer products

   • animatronics

   • The course focus this semester is toward “performance art.”

   
   

3. definitions of “dynamic”

   • \(F = m a\)

   • \(\frac{dx}{dt} <> 0\)

   • something that moves or changes

   • closed-loop, sensor-driven feedback

   • non-repeating pattern

   • constructed of liquid or flexible material

   • interactive

   • fast or energetic

   • computationally generated

   • at the core: a process unfolding through both physics and computation

   
   

4. definitions of “surprisingly animate”. Elusive, much like “Artificial Intelligence”. For us:

   • evoking life

   • using physical movement and dynamics to expose hidden means and intent

   • using the hidden nature of algorithms to construct a performance vocabulary

   
   

5. definitions of “expressive dynamic behavior”

   • physical and mechanical dynamic behavior (without computation)

   • programmed behavior (e.g. animation)

   • feedback-driven generated behavior

   • all told: creating an illusion of life and agency

   
   

6. What the course is not:

   • mobile robotics

   • planning and navigation

   • AI and machine learning

   • a unified narrative stage show; this is more of a set of explorations and experiments

   • robots as fabrication machinery

   
   

7. Resources and Skills

   • motors

   • pneumatics

   • digital fabrication

   quick surveys:

   1. CAD

   2. fabrication

   3. programming