Syllabus: Robotics for Creative Practice

16-375/54-375 IDeATe: Robotics for Creative Practice
TR 3:20-4:40PM
Hunt Library A5 (IDeATe Fab Lab)
Instructor: Dr. Garth Zeglin (garthz) (pronouns: he/him/his)
IDeATe Collaborative Course, offered by Drama and The Robotics Institute

Course Description

The course is offered the same under either 16-375 or 54-375, although with slightly varying descriptions as noted in italics:

16-375 IDeATe: Robotics for Creative Practice

Robots come in all shapes and sizes: it is the integration of software and hardware that can make any machine surprisingly animate. This project-oriented course brings art and engineering together to build performance systems using embodied behavior as a creative medium. Students learn skills for designing, constructing and programming automated systems for storytelling and human interaction, then explore the results through exhibition and performance. Technical topics include closed-loop motion control, expressive physical and computational behavior, machine choreography, and performance conceptualization. Discussion topics include both contemporary kinetic sculpture and robotics research. This interdisciplinary course is part of IDeATe Physical Computing but is open to any student.

54-375 IDeATe: Robotics for Creative Practice

Robots come in all shapes and sizes: it is the integration of software and hardware that can make any machine surprisingly animate. This project-oriented course brings art and engineering together to build performance systems using embodied behavior as a creative medium. Students learn skills for designing, constructing and programming automated systems for storytelling and human interaction, then explore the results through exhibition and performance. Technical topics include programmed motion control, machine design, closed-loop feedback systems, machine choreography, and human-robot interaction. Discussion topics include contemporary kinetic sculpture and animatronics. This interdisciplinary course is part of IDeATe Physical Computing but is open to any student.

Prerequisites and Enrollment

This course has no formal prerequisites, but students are expected to have junior-level technical skills within their own discipline. If you have any questions concerning prerequisites please contact the instructor. Total enrollment is limited to 20 students, drawn from all departments.

Detailed Description

This collaborative course brings art and engineering together to explore interdisciplinary practice at the intersection of drama, music, and robotics. This exploration is the key aim of IDeATe: we are developing practitioners who can effectively utilize their expert domain knowledge in collaboration with other disciplines. This involves developing both rigorous individual expertise as well as skill with negotiating the vocabularies of other domains. Students will be expected to learn skills from outside their home discipline and teach their own expertise, but more importantly, to develop their abilities to collaborate in diverse groups.

The students in the course work in assigned groups to develop performance machines, culminating in a public show. These machines use embodied behavior as a creative medium for storytelling and performance. The technical portion of the course includes a number of techniques: machine design, kinematics, feedback control, real-time programming, and machine choreography.

The course project revolves around the following question: what does it mean to be surprisingly animate? This phrase originally comes from a quip between roboticists 1 but suggests a number of subsidiary questions:

  1. What do we mean by animate?

  2. How do we create behavior without computation?

  3. How does embodiment change our perceptions of computation?

Each year the course develops a different theme. This year will focus on using the possibilities of simulation for exploring expressive dynamic behavior using multiple agents. The emphasis is on creating machines with physical dynamics which reveals the interaction of a machine and environment and the interplay of multiple individuals. These processes are then manipulated as a narrative medium to reveal hidden goals and understanding. The interaction of a machine and environment evokes questions of the blurry boundaries between the synthetic and the natural, the self and the other, the animate and the inanimate.

1

The full phrase, “a robot is a surprisingly animate machine!”, is attributed to David Grossman in M. Brady, “Editorial: Preface to the millennium special issue”, Int. J. Robotics Research 18, No. 11, 1051-1055 (November, 1999)

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course the students will be able to:

  1. formulate a narrative goal as an interaction of a machine and material or objects

  2. apply basic closed-loop control techniques to create joint-level position control

  3. construct actuated machines with articulated structures

  4. program robots using basic state machines, feedback control, and planning algorithms to create the illusion of life and agency

  5. simulate multi-robot systems incorporating real-world dynamics

  6. collaborate with teams of artists, designers, engineers, and computer scientists to create performance technology

  7. use machine behavior as an artistic medium

It also incorporates the general goals of IDeATe to develop hybrid students with integrated knowledge in technology and arts. This stresses the following general skills:

  1. algorithmic and analytic thinking

  2. end-to-end execution of project concepts

  3. communication through writing, drawing, and speaking

  4. professional preparation

Course Structure

Updated for Fall 2020.

The overall structure of the semester proceeds through three main phases:

  1. theoretical foundations explored using simulation tools (six weeks)

  2. practical skills explored using prototype hardware (four weeks)

  3. project and performance development (five weeks)

Weekly Calendar

The day-by-day progress is charted on the Daily Agenda Logbook pages. Following is the general plan.

Weeks

Topics and Project Activities

1-2

Contextual exploration, introduction to simulation.

3-4

Kinematics, dynamics, and feedback control.

5-6

Scripted and generative performance.

7-8

Kinetic machine design and/or purchasing, performance improvisation and storyboarding.

9-10

Proof-of-concept assembly, programming, and performance.

11-12

Script and design iteration, fabrication, full system integration, testing.

13

Pre-break performance opportunity, Thanksgiving break.

14

Remote performance opportunity, documentation.

15

Analysis, review and critique.

This schedule is approximate in order to accommodate either remote or local activities, and the possibilities of either buying or building performance hardware.

Since all teaching will be remote for the final weeks of Fall 2020, students will not have any possibility of lab access for weeks 14 and 15, and all final reviews will be over Zoom. We’ll choose final performance details accordingly.

Daily Schedule

New for Fall 2020.

Scheduled classes will take place via Zoom videoconference. The day-by-day agenda is provided on the Daily Agenda Logbook pages. Most scheduled class periods begin with a group discussion activity, followed by more specialized tutorials and individual questions. On specific presentation days the group discussion occupies the entire class period.

Attendance during discussion activities is mandatory. If your circumstances will not permit you to participate, please negotiate alternate arrangements with the instructor in advance.

Attendance during subsequent tutorial and discussion is optional. I would like you to decide the best use of your time.

Asynchronous Instruction

New for Fall 2020.

This class is now ‘flipped’ in that lecture or other didactic presentation is provided as recorded video or text. Students are responsible for learning the presented material outside class time. The assigned and optional viewings and readings will be listed for each week using the Daily Agenda Logbook pages. In general I expect that the asynchronous learning will be assessed by performance on assignments and projects rather than quizzes or tests.

Canvas and Piazza

Assignments and grades are posted on our Canvas site. The text course content is published at https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/16-375; the actual Canvas assignments are usually a link to the full text.

As a general rule, the Canvas Calendar is used for deliverable deadlines and the Daily Agenda Logbook pages for assigned viewings.

The early skill-building assignments are also submitted via Canvas, either as a short post or sometimes just a URL. Assignments involving more detailed documentation are submitted as posts on the RCP project site.

Piazza

New for Fall 2020.

We are going to try conducting class-related discussion on Piazza this semester. By asking your technical and logistical questions via posts on Piazza, we can identify common questions and build a collective set of answers which will help everyone. You can even post your questions anonymously.

Pandemic Contingencies

If the university announces a change to remote-only teaching, the day by day class meetings will not need to change much as they will always be on Zoom. The lab will become entirely unavailable, a fact we will consider when planning projects.

Grading Rubric

Everybody is assumed to start with an A in the course. If you do the work you will keep it, but failing to fulfill the expectations will cause you to drift downward. The total grade in the course will be weighted approximately 60% for projects, 30% for exercises, and 10% for classroom participation and discussion.

Please note also that much of the feedback on your work will come in the form of critique and commentary rather than numerical scores. Please attend to this; the commentary will be a much more substantive guide to your personal learning process than the scoring.

Each project will also include a peer evaluation component. The purpose of this element is to identify the specific contributions of each group member to the project outcome. Individual scores for a project may vary from the group score based on peer reports and instructor observations.

Computing Needs

New for Fall 2020.

Each student is expected to provide computing resources for individual work. If this requirement constitutes an individual hardship, please contact the instructor. The IDeATe ‘virtual cluster’ laptops will not be available for borrowing in Fall 2020.

The default requirement is a personal computer that is capable of running Webots (robot simulation) on which you have the ability to install new software. The full specification of software needs can be found in Course Software Overview.

The optional course-supported CAD system will be Autodesk Fusion 360, for which you wouldl also need an Autodesk account (free for academic use).

General Course Policies

Attendance

Coming to class on time is mandatory. We will take attendance at each class and three unexcused absences will cause you to lose 10% in your final grade, with an additional 10% for each successive missed class. If you must be absent, you must request approval in advance.. Late requests will be considered on a case by case basis. Unexcused absences during review days will also reduce your individual project grade.

Lateness

All assignments must be submitted by the required deadline, unless prior authorization is obtained from an instructor and documented in email. Verbal authorization is not sufficient: any verbal discussion of late submission must be documented with an emailed request and reply.

Assignments received within 24 hours of the deadline will receive half-score. Assignments received later than 24 hours will not be examined and receive zero score.

Assignments bounced for revision at the discretion of the instructor must be returned within 24 hours if not otherwise specified. This rule is meant to allow a grace period for reports which overlook a required element; please do not assume that incomplete work can be resubmitted.

However, please remember that something is always better than nothing. If the deadline is imminent, please submit whatever text, images, and drawings you can rather than do nothing. Always ask for an extension rather than silently fail to deliver.

Fabrication Lab

Updated for Fall 2020.

The designated classroom for the course is the IDeATe Fab Lab in Hunt A5. Class meetings will be held via Zoom video-conference, however, the room is reserved and it may become possible for a preselected group to use the lab during this time. These students will gain access to the lab tools and materials, subject to the evolving rules (see IDeATe Covid-19).

Currently, the space has a total capacity limit of 13, with the classroom area limited to six. Any students using the space must abide by university policy and wear face coverings and maintain physical distance.

Currently, the Hunt A5 lab will only be available to students during class time. Please tap your ID to the reader on entry, even if the door is open, to support potential contact tracing.

Please keep in mind that access to the lab may be cut off on short notice at any time, so I highly recommend always taking your projects and materials with you.

IDeATe Facilities

Updated for Fall 2020.

The course makes use of the IDeATe fabrication facilities and labs in the lower level of Hunt Library, subject to availability and the evolving rules (see IDeATe Covid-19).

Currently, the IDeATe laser cutters are not available for general student use, and material purchases are not available from Lending.

Currently, the 3D printers will be operating via online submission for course-related projects. We can discuss at your project planning stage whether to spend course resources on this service.

Currently, the normal library study spaces are operating on a reservation-only system.

Please read and become familiar with the IDeATe lending and purchasing policies, which can be accessed at https://resources.ideate.cmu.edu. The IDeATe facilities are shared student resources and spaces. As such, all members of the IDeATe community are expected to be respectful of the equipment, the spaces, and fellow students and their projects. Always clean up after completing your work, put things back in their correct place, and leave the lab in better condition than you found it.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability and have an accommodations letter from the Disability Resources office, I encourage you to discuss your accommodations and needs with me as early in the semester as possible. I will work with you to ensure that accommodations are provided as appropriate. If you suspect that you may have a disability and would benefit from accommodations but are not yet registered with the Office of Disability Resources, I encourage you to contact them at access@andrew.cmu.edu.

Student Health and Well-being

This semester promises to be radically different and potentially very stressful. Please take care of yourself. Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle this semester by eating well, exercising, avoiding drugs and alcohol, getting enough sleep and taking some time to relax. This will help you achieve your goals and cope with stress.

If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, we strongly encourage you to seek support. Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS) is here to help: call 412-268-2922 and visit https://www.cmu.edu/counseling. Consider reaching out to a friend, faculty or family member you trust for help getting connected to the support that can help.

Last updated 2020-08-25.